Rugby league in Ireland

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Rugby league in Ireland
CountryIreland
Governing bodyRugby League Ireland
National team(s)Ireland
Nickname(s)Wolfhounds
First played1934
National competitions

Rugby league is a team sport played in Ireland on an all-Ireland basis.

History[]

In May 1934 Wigan beat Warrington 32–19 in an exhibition match in Dublin. Twenty years later, in May 1954, Warrington were again defeated by Halifax in both Belfast (34–15) and Dublin (23–11).

The first rugby league club side to actually play in Ireland, Dublin Blues, were not formed until 1989. They consisted mostly of rugby union players who wanted to test themselves in the other code. The Blues competed against touring teams from Britain scoring victories over British amateur opposition.

In early 1995 the Rugby Football League development arm financed the position of a Development Officer for Ireland, providing a boost to the development of the game. This laid the basis for the formation of the national Ireland side, which played its first ever game on St Patrick's Day 1995, in Washington DC, defeating the USA 24–22.

Competitive matches were established between teams in Leinster and Ulster: Schoolboy matches were played between Dublin and Belfast schools, Open Age Clubs competed against each other in the All-Ireland Challenge Cup. Teams included Belfast Wildcats and Bangor Vikings from Ulster.

In 2011 an academy was set up in Limerick where talented players would be identified to sign with Super League clubs, 4 were eventually signed across St Helens R.F.C., Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos.[1]

In 2022, made their Challenge Cup debut.[2]

Governing body[]

Main article: Rugby League Ireland

In Ireland the governing body is Rugby League Ireland (RLI).

Competitions[]

Ireland National League[]

Main article: Ireland National League (rugby league)

Ulster League[]

Results
Year Winner Score Runners-up
2009 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs ?–? Belfast Bulldogs
2010 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 38–30 Fermanagh Redskins
2011 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 38–28 Belfast Bulldogs
2012 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 42–30 Fermanagh Redskins
2013 Not Played
2014 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 38–30 Belfast Met Scholars
2015 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 42–16 Belfast Met Scholars
2016 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs 68–30 Portadown Pumas
2017 Belfast Met Scholars w/o Ballynahinch Rabbitohs
2018 Belfast Stags 30–28 Portadown Pumas

Provincial League[]

Results
Year Winner Runner-up
2010 Munster Leinster
2011 Leinster Ulster
2012 Ulster Leinster

Media[]

There are two weekly rugby league newspapers in the UK Rugby Leaguer & League Express and League Weekly and two monthly magazines, Rugby League World and Thirteen Magazine. Most of their content covers the sport in Britain, Australia and New Zealand but Irish rugby league is also covered. These publications are usually only available by subscription in Ireland.

International rugby league magazine covers all rugby league internationally and has featured Ireland's domestic season, road to the world cup and interviewed Luke Ambler.[3]

A rugby union publication called Emerald Rugby covers rugby league in Ireland each month.

BBC Sport own the rights to broadcast a highlights package called the Super League Show which was first broadcast in Northern Ireland in 2008. Prior to this it had only been broadcast in the North of England.[4] Rugby League Raw is not broadcast in Northern Ireland despite the BBC owning the rights to do so. The BBC covers the Rugby League Challenge Cup from the rounds in which the top clubs enter.

BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Five Live Sports Extra carry commentary from a selection of Super League matches each week,.

Live Super League and National Rugby League games are shown on Sky Sports Arena with highlights also being shown on the channel.[5][6] From the 2022 season, 10 live Super League games per season will be shown on Channel 4, the first time the league will be shown on terrestrial television.[7] Championship games are shown on Premier Sports, with one game a week being aird.[8]

Setanta Sports Ireland broadcast highlights of the 2005 and 2006 pre-season Dublin challenge matches, and the 2005 European Nations Cup, on its Sports Weekly and Sports Monthly programmes.

Manchester based Channel M show some National League and amateur rugby on their Code XIII programme.

The national team[]

Main article: Ireland national rugby league team

There are in fact two Ireland teams: the full Ireland side is dominated by players of Irish ancestry from the Super League and the NRL, whilst the Irish Wolfhounds side is made up of players from the domestic Irish competition.

Until recently the Great Britain team were known as 'Great Britain and Ireland' and Irish players were able to play for them. Brian Carney (rugby footballer) is a rare example of a player who played in the Irish league and then gained a professional contract with Super League club Wigan Warriors, he went on to play for Great Britain and Ireland.

Ireland also has a strong students Wolfhounds team who competed in the 2008 Students world cup and finished 2nd in the student's 4 nations tournament in 2009.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-08-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Tribesmen 'honoured' to make debut in Challenge Cup". 13 January 2022.
  3. ^ http://www.internationalmag.net[bare URL]
  4. ^ "Super League Show to get repeat". BBC Sport. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  5. ^ https://www.rugbyleagueontv.com/superleague
  6. ^ https://www.rugbyleagueontv.com/nrlonsky
  7. ^ "BBC One - Super League Show, 2020 - Episode guide".
  8. ^ "Monday night rugby league set for return from 2022". Rugby League News. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.

External links[]

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