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London Irish

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For the British Army regiment, see London Irish Rifles.
London Irish
File:London irish badge.png
Full nameLondon Irish Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)The Exiles, The Not-nots[1]
LocationReading, England
Ground(s)Madejski Stadium (Capacity: 24,250)
ChairmanIreland Andrew Coppel
Coach(es)England Toby Booth
Captain(s)New Zealand Clarke Dermody
League(s)Aviva Premiership
2009–106th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.london-irish.com

London Irish is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, and the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices, although the senior squad play home games in Reading. The professional club share the Sunbury facilities with London Irish Amateur RFC and compete in the top division of English rugby union, the Guinness Premiership. The club also compete in the Anglo-Welsh Cup as well as one of the two Europe-wide club competitions—the Heineken Cup or European Challenge Cup, depending on their performance in the previous season. The club play at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, some 40 miles west of central London, until 2026. The decision has earned the club the nickname the Not-nots[1], referring to team not playing in London and having a limited amount of Irish players.

London Irish was founded in 1898 for the young Irish people of the city, following the formation of similar clubs in London, including the London Welsh and London Scottish, but it now employs players from a wide range of backgrounds. The team plays in green and white colours, with a reversed away strip. The club's mascot is an Irish Wolfhound called Digger. London Irish won its first major trophy in 2002, claiming the Powergen Cup (the competition that would later become the Anglo-Welsh Cup) and in the 2007/08 a resurgent team came close to a place in the Heineken Cup Final losing out to Toulouse in a tight encounter at Twickenham.

History

Also known as The Exiles, London Irish RFC was formed in 1898 for the young Irishmen of London; it was modelled on the already established London Welsh and London Scottish teams. London Irish suffered during World War I and the Irish War of Independence. It was not until 1923 when the Irish Free State was established and peace returned that the club was able to welcome players from across the Irish Sea on a regular basis.

By the late 1920s the club boasted its first "home grown" Ireland international in S J 'Cags' Cagney who won 13 caps between 1925 and 1929. The club developed a home of its own in 1931 at The Avenue in Sunbury, the first game was played on 5 December against London Welsh; the result was an honourable 8-8 draw. Although the club now play their games as tenants of Reading FC at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, the ground at Sunbury is still its spiritual home.

The 1950s was a period of mixed fortunes for London Irish. In 1959-1960 season London Irish only lost 2 games all season, featuring Ireland International players such as Andy Mulligan & Sean McDermott, Mike (C.M.H.) Gibson (played 1 game in the late 1960s), Tony O'Reilly (who played a handful of games in 1970) and Ollie Waldron (who played in the late 1960s-early 70s), all graced the Sunbury pitch.

The improving quality of fixtures demanded a change in attitude to training and playing as the sixties became the seventies. Under the leadership of the great hooker Ken Kennedy, with the assistance of exceptional players like Nick Hegarty, Mick Molloy and Barry Bresnihan, London Irish became a force to be reckoned with once more. In 1976-77 the Rugby Football Union introduced proper club merit tables and in that season London Irish finished first in the London Division with six wins out of seven. The Irish made visits to France and famously to South Africa in 1977 where the club became the first touring side to play so many mixed race teams.

In playing terms the eighties were another period of inconsistency. The first team struggled to find reliable form as work pressures made more demands on players' time making them unavailable for regular training and matches. Happily, at the lower levels and socially London Irish continued to thrive. In 1990-91 London Irish were promoted to the first division with a side containing four new Ireland internationals: Simon Geoghegan, Jim Staples, David Curtis and Rob Saunders, the youngest ever captain of his country at 22 years of age.

The harsh financial realities of playing at the top end of the game in England gradually became clear to all the country's senior clubs including London Irish in the early years of the decade. Operating losses mounted and but for the generosity of key benefactors at the time, the club would have struggled to survive.

The financial struggles were reflected on the pitch where London Irish failed to make any impact in the leagues despite employing the services of a number of high profile coaches. In 1999 London Irish merged with London Scottish and Richmond to form a new umbrella company to support the professional team which now competes in the Aviva Premiership in England. An amateur club was also formed at this time, London Irish Amateur RFC, which remains in Sunbury. The club won its first piece of silverware in 2002 by beating Northampton Saints in the Powergen Cup final at Twickenham.

Academy

London Irish have a thriving academy set up. with players such as Nick Kennedy and Delon Armitage have both progressed through the ranks.

Stadium

London Irish play at the Madejski Stadium, in Reading. Madejski is the home of Reading FC and was opened in August 1998. The ground is a 24,161 all-seater capacity.

While Reading FC had received local authority approval for a stadium expansion, it now seems unlikely to go ahead following the club's relegation from football's Premier League. All London Irish home matches are played at the Madejski. The largest crowd for a London Irish match was for a game against London Wasps on 15 March 2008 during the 2007-08 Guinness Premiership. The crowd of 23,790 was also the highest attendance for a regular season Guinness Premiership match [2] until Harlequins drew 50,000 to Twickenham for a match against Leicester Tigers in December 2008.

Current standing

Template:2009-10 Guinness Premiership Table

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Brian Blaney Hooker Ireland Ireland
James Buckland Hooker England England
David Paice Hooker England England
Alex Corbisiero Prop England England
Clarke Dermody Prop New Zealand New Zealand (c)
Paulică Ion Prop Romania Romania
Dan Murphy Prop England England
Faan Rautenbach Prop South Africa South Africa
James Tideswell Prop England England
Bob Casey Lock Ireland Ireland
Gary Johnson Lock England England
Nick Kennedy Lock England England
Kieran Roche Lock England England
Steffon Armitage Flanker England England
Declan Danaher Flanker England England
Jon Fisher Flanker England England
George Stowers Flanker Samoa Samoa
Chris Hala'ufia Number 8 Tonga Tonga
Richard Thorpe Number 8 England England
Player Position Union
Darren Allinson Scrum-half Wales Wales
Paul Hodgson Scrum-half England England
Alfredo Lalanne Scrum-half Argentina Argentina
Ben Stevenson Scrum-half England England
Ryan Lamb Fly-half England England
Chris Malone Fly-half Australia Australia
Daniel Bowden Centre New Zealand New Zealand
Seilala Mapusua Centre Samoa Samoa
Elvis Seveali'i Centre Samoa Samoa
Tom Homer Wing England England
Topsy Ojo Wing England England
Sailosi Tagicakibau Wing Samoa Samoa
Adam Thompstone Wing England England
Delon Armitage Fullback England England
Jamie Lennard Fullback England England

Current England Elite squad

Current England Saxons squad

Current internationally capped players

Transfers 2010/2011

Players In

Players Out

Notable Irish players

  • Justin Bishop (wing, 25 caps between 1998 and 2003)
  • Barry Bresnihan (centre, 25 caps 1966-71)
  • Niall Brophy (wing, 20 caps 1957-67)
  • Paul Burke (out-half, 13 caps 1998-2003)
  • Kieran Campbell (scrum-half, 3 caps 2005)
  • Bob Casey (second-row, 7 caps 1999-2009)
  • Paul Collins (wing-forward, 2 caps 1987-90)
  • Hugh Condon (centre, 1 cap 1984)
  • Victor Costello (number 8, 39 caps 1996-2004)
  • David Curtis (centre, 13 caps 1991-92)
  • Jeremy Davidson (second-row, 32 caps 1995-2001)
  • Kieron Dawson (wing-forward, 21 caps 1997-2003)
  • Justin Fitzpatrick (prop-forward, 26 caps 1998-2003)
  • Neil Francis (second-row, 36 caps 1987-96)
  • Gabriel Fulcher (second-row, 20 caps 1994-98)
  • Simon Geoghegan (wing, 37 caps, 1991-96)
  • Michael Gibson (number 8, 10 caps 1979-88)
  • Mike Gibson (centre, 69 caps 1964-79)
  • Gary Halpin (prop-forward, 11 caps 1990-95)
  • Rob Henderson (centre, 29 caps 1996-2003)
  • Niall Hogan (scrum-half, 13 caps 1995-97)
  • Kenneth Houston (wing, 6 caps 1961-65)
  • Tyrone Howe (wing, 14 caps 2000-04)
  • David Humphreys (out-half, 72 caps 1996-2006)
  • Ken Kennedy (hooker, 45 caps 1965-75)
  • Paul Kennedy (prop-forward, 2 caps 1986)
  • Patrick Lavery (centre, 2 caps 1974-76)
  • Brian McCall (second-row, 3 caps 1985-86)
  • Mark McCall (centre, 13 caps 1992-98)
  • Ronald McCarten (wing, 3 caps 1961)
  • Aidan McCullen (wing-forward, 1 cap 2003)
  • Alistair McKibbin (centre, 14 caps 1977-80)
  • Mick Molloy (second-row, 27 caps 1966-76)
  • Andy Mulligan (scrum-half, 22 caps 1956-61)
  • Brendan Mullin (centre, 55 caps 1984-95)
  • John Murphy (full-back, 6 caps 1951-58)
  • Des O'Brien (number 8, 20 caps 1948-52)
  • John O'Driscoll (wing-forward, 26 caps 1978-84)
  • Kevin O'Flanagan (wing, 1 cap 1947)
  • Malcolm O'Kelly (second-row, 92 caps 1997-2009)
  • Tony O'Reilly (wing, 29 caps 1955-70)
  • Conor O'Shea (full-back, 35 caps 1993-2000)
  • Patrick Parfrey (wing, 1 cap 1974)
  • Brian Robinson (number 8, 25 caps 1991-94)
  • Robin Roe (hooker, 21 caps 1952-57)
  • Rob Saunders (scrum-half, 12 caps 1991-94)
  • John Smith (prop-forward, 12 caps 1951-54)
  • Dick Spring (full-back, 3 caps 1979)
  • Jim Staples (full-back, 26 caps 1991-97)
  • Jeremy Staunton (out-half, 5 caps 2001-07)
  • Robin Thompson (second-row, 11 caps 1951-56)
  • Oliver Waldron (second-row, 3 caps 1966-68)
  • Niall Woods (wing, 8 caps 1994-99)

Other notable players

Honours


London Irish Amateur

London Irish Amateur
Full nameLondon Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club
UnionRFU
Nickname(s)The Exiles, Irish, The Wild Geese[13]
FoundedSeptember 1999[14]
LocationSunbury-on-Thames, England
Ground(s)The Avenue
PresidentDavid FitzGerald
Coach(es)England Jamie Balls MBE
Captain(s)England Richard Braithwaite
League(s)London 1 South
Official website
www.london-irish-amateur.co.uk

London Irish also run London Irish Amateur for non-professionals to allow them to improve in Rugby. Some players such as Justin Bishop and Kieran Campbell have come through the ranks to play for London Irish. [15]

Digger

Digger

Digger is an Irish Wolfhound and official mascot of London Irish. He has an extremely important job of providing support to the Club.

Honours

On 30 May 2003 Digger won the "Best Mascot" award in the Zurich Premiership at the Premier Rugby Marketing Awards held at Twickenham.[16]

Charity work

On 23 April 2006, Digger ran the London Marathon raising money for Spinal Research. Digger finished the marathon in a time of 6 hours 39 minutes 31 seconds.[17]

Colleagues

Digger was joined by his cousin, Duggie, from the 2006/07 season. Much taller and much slower, Duggie has proved popular with younger children attending matchdays although Digger remains the Top Dog. As well as the two mascots, there is also a real Wolfhound, Mr Doyle, who also attends the home games. Before Mr Doyle there was also another Wolfhound, Jumbo, before Jumbo retired.

Trivia

References

  1. ^ a b "London Irish v Rugby Rovigo - What's in a name?". Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  2. ^ "No Luck on Paddy's Day for Irish". Guinness Premiership.com. Retrieved 16 march 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/8694655.stm
  4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/8595096.stm
  5. ^ http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,15974_6108830,00.html
  6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/8617027.stm
  7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/8659483.stm
  8. ^ http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/sport/8267585.Impressive_array_of_new_faces_at_Rosslyn_Park/
  9. ^ http://www.newcastle-falcons.co.uk/36_6172.php
  10. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/8692404.stm
  11. ^ http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/sport/sport.php?id=799642
  12. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/8878583.stm
  13. ^ "Wild Geese on brink of the title". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  14. ^ "About Us". London-Irish-Amateur.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
  15. ^ http://www.london-irish-amateur.co.uk/about_us.html
  16. ^ "Digger Wins 'Best Mascot' Award". London Irish. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  17. ^ "Steven Orton is fundraising for Spinal Research - JustGiving". Just Giving. Retrieved 2010-02-26.

See also

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