Irish Rugby Football Union

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs.

History Initially, there were two unions: the Irish Football Union, which had jurisdiction over clubs in Leinster, Munster and parts of Ulster and was founded in December 1874, and the Northern Football Union of Ireland, which controlled the Belfast area and was founded in January 1875. The IRFU was formed in 1879 as an amalgamation of these two organisations and branches of the new IRFU were formed in Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Connacht Branch was formed in 1885.

The IRFU was a founding member of the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby, in 1886 with Scotland and Wales. (England refused to join until 1890.)

Following the partition of Ireland in to what is now the Republic of Ireland (an independent country) and Northern Ireland (a region of the United Kingdom), the then Committee of the Irish Rugby Football Union decided that it would continue to administer its affairs on the basis of the full 32 Irish counties and the traditional four provinces of Ireland: Leinster (12 counties), Ulster (9 counties), Munster (6 counties), and Connacht (5 counties), as they had been whilst all in the United Kingdom.

This led to the unusual, but not unique, situation among international rugby union teams, where the Irish representative teams are drawn from players from two separate political, national territories: Ireland (an independent, sovereign state) and Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom). To maintain the unity of Irish rugby union and the linkages between North and South, the IRFU purchased a new ground in 1923 in the Ravenhill district of Belfast at a cost of £2,300. The last full International at Ravenhill involving Ireland for more than a half-century took place in 1953–54 against Scotland who were victorious by 2 tries (6 points) to nil. Australia played Romania in the 1999 World Cup at the ground. The next full International played at Ravenhill was the Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Italy in August 2007 due to the temporary closure of Lansdowne Road for reconstruction.

The four provincial branches of the IRFU first ran cup competitions during the 1880s. Although these tournaments still take place every year, their significance has been diminished by the advent of an All-Ireland league of 48 Senior Clubs in 1990.

The four provincial teams have played an Interprovincial Championship since the 1920s and the teams organised by the four provincial branches of the IRFU continue to be the focal point for players aspiring to the international level. Since rugby union turned professional, the 'representative' senior teams of each of the branches - Munster, Leinster, Ulster and Connacht - have functioned as professional clubs part funded by the IRFU, and as such now routinely sign players not born in the respective province while remaining the primary outlet for players developed in that province. All four provinces play at the senior level as members of the United Rugby Championship and in competitions organised by European Professional Club Rugby.

The IRFU, through its provinces, also administer women's rugby on island, and the provincial teams take part in the IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series, the highest level of purely domestic women's rugby. In 2023, two IRFU funded combined provinces teams, Wolfhounds (Leinster and Ulster) and Clovers (Munster and Connacht) were entered in the cross-border Celtic Challenge.

Logos and emblems

The Irish Rugby Football Union represents the island of Ireland and the emblems and symbols it uses have reflected its association with the whole of the island of Ireland since its formation. Some elements have changed since 1874, but what has remained consistent throughout the history of the union is the use of the shamrock in its emblems. Originally the Shamrock was a five-sprig emblem covering most of the lefthand side of the jersey and this was used until the 1898 game against England in when it was replaced with a white shield with a sprig of four similar sized shamrocks.

In 1927 a new crest was introduced, with the shamrock design altered to a sprig of three shamrocks of a similar size within a smaller white shield. This was the official crest until 1974 when the centenary logo was used, and which continued to be used with only a slight modification made in 2010.

Logos used on the official match programmes from the 1920s to 1954, showing a single shamrock surrounded by an oval had no relation to the official jersey emblem. The only time an Irish jersey had a single shamrock was when the Ireland side toured Chile and Argentina in 1952 and Argentina in 1970, and in both series no caps were awarded.

Although the use of the shamrock has been a constant, albeit with modifications to design, other elements of symbology have changed. In the early twenties, when the Irish Free State was established, the union was left in the position of governing a game for one island containing two separate political entities. A controversy ensued as to what flag should be flown at international matches. For a side that played both in Dublin and Belfast (the former being in the Free State, the latter being politically part of the United Kingdom) this posed a significant issue.

In 1925 the union designed their own flag, incorporating the arms of the four provinces.Edmund Van Esbeck, The Story of Irish Rugby, p97 (Stanley Paul:London), 1986 Although it had the same elements as the Flag of the Four Provinces, it was not identical, instead having them separated on a green background with the IRFU logo in the centre. Even so, the call to fly the Irish tricolour at Lansdowne Road continued. In 1932, despite the IRFU insisting that only the IRFU flag was flown at home internationals, pressure continued such that the Minister for External Affairs in the Free State asked to meet with the president of the Union. The result was that on 5 February 1932, the IRFU unanimously voted to fly both the flag of the union and the national flag at Lansdowne Road at all international matches in Dublin.Edmund Van Esbeck, The Story of Irish Rugby, p98 (Stanley Paul:London), 1986 The IRFU flag, as designed in 1925, is that which is still used by the Ireland rugby union side, albeit with the logo updated in the middle.

At the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Ireland team entered the field of play at the beginning of their matches with the Irish tricolour and the Flag of Ulster.

Similar to the flag and logo compromise, since The Rugby World Cup in 1995, the Irish rugby team has sung both the Irish national anthem "Amhrán na bhFiann" and "Ireland's Call" when playing in the Republic of Ireland, and only Ireland's call when playing elsewhere.

Affiliation There are currently approximately 95,000 rugby players in total in Ireland. There are 56 clubs affiliated to the Ulster Branch; 71 to the Leinster Branch; 59 to the Munster Branch and 23 to the Connacht Branch. In addition, there are 246 schools playing rugby: Ulster (107), Leinster (75), Munster (41) and Connacht (23).

The IRFU also has an Exiles branch tasked with developing "Ireland-qualified" players (i.e., eligible to play internationally for Ireland as members of the Irish diaspora) living in England, Scotland and Wales. Volunteers provide coaching, administration and development under the supervision of a paid development manager.

IRFU presidents

1874–1876: Duke of Abercorn 1876–1879: Duke of Marlborough 1879–1880: W.C. Neville 188018–81: W. Goulding 1881–1882: R.B. Walkington 1883–1884: A.R. McMullen 1884–1885: R.E. McLean 1885–1886: G. Scriven 1886–1887: W.L. Stokes 1887–1888: J. Chambers 1888–1889: R. Biggs 1889–1890: F.W. Moore 1890–1891: M.H. Turnbull 1891–1892: H. Hook 1892–1893: J.R. Blood 1893–1894: R. Garratt 1894–1895: J. Macaulay 1895–1896: R.G. Warren 1896–1897: J. Dodds 1897–1898: J.F. Maguire 1898–1899: J.B. Moore 1899–1900: S. Lee 1900–1901: J. O'Sullivan 1901–1902: T. Thornhill 1902–1903: J. Johnston 1903–1904: V.J. Murray 1904–1905: A.D. Clinch 1905–1906: F.M. Hamilton 1906–1907: J. Flynn 1907–1908: G.H.B. Kennedy 1908–1909: A. Barr 1909–1910: C.W.L. Alexander 1910–1911: F.C. Purser 1911–1912: J.H. O'Conor 1912–1913: R. Stevenson 1913–1916: F.H. Browning 1919–1920: A. Tedford 1920–1921: W.P. Hinton 1921–1922: R.M. Magrath 1922–1923: G.G. McCrea 1923–1924: H. Thrift 1924–1925: J.J. Coffey 1925–1926: F.J. Strain 1926–1927: G.T. Hamlet 1927–1928: J. Sealy 1928–1929: H.J. Millar 1929–1930: T.J. Greeves 1930–1931: J.G. Musgrave 1931–1932: W.A. Clarke 1932–1933: C.S. Neill 1933–1934: S.E. Polden 1934–1935: J. Wallace 1935–1936: S.T. Irwin 1936–1937: C. Davitt 1937–1938: H.E. Emerson 1938–1945: J.J. Warren 1945–1946: H.J. Anderson 1946–1947: W.A.B. Douglas 1947–1948: T.M. McGrath 1948–1949: G.P.S. Hogan 1949–1950: W.G. Fallon 1950–1951: Air Vice-Marshall Sir W. Tyrrell, K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., M.B., LL.D. 1951–1952: D. F. O'Connell 1952–1953: V. E. Kirwan 1953–1954: J. B. O'Callaghan 1954–1955: C. J. Hanrahan 1955–1956: H. M. Read 1956–1957: Capt. J. R. Ramsey, P.C. 1957–1958: W. E. Crawford, B.L. 1958–1959: Johnny J Glynn 1960–1961: N.F. Murphy 1961–1962: L.B. McMahon 1962–1963: J.A.E. Siggins 1963–1964: T.A. O'Reilly 1964–1965: C.C. Harte 1965–1966: P.F. Murray 1966–1967: D.G. O'Donovan 1967–1968: E. O'Davy 1968–1969: C.P. Crowley 1969–1970: J.W.S. Irwin 1970–1971: E. Patterson 1971–1972: D.A. Dineen 1972–1973: J.C. Conroy 1973–1974: I.F. Mahony 1974–1975: H.R. McKibbin 1975–1976: J.J. Keane 1976–1977: J.A.D. Higgins 1977–1978: J.F. Coffey 1978–1979: K.J. Quilligan 1979–1980: J. Montgomery 1980–1981: R. Ganly 1981–1982: J.J. Moore 1982–1983: J.E. Nelson 1983–1984: G.F. Reidy 1984–1985: M.H. Carroll 1985–1986: D. McKibbin 1986–1987: E. Bell 1987–1988: P.F. Madigan 1988–1989: T.J. Kiernan 1989–1990: A.R. Dawson 1990–1991: N.J. Henderson 1991–1992: A.D. Browne 1992–1993: C.A. Quaid 1993–1994: M. Cuddy 1994–1995: K.E. Reid 1995–1996: S. Millar 1996–1997: R.M. Deacu 1997–1998: N.H Brophy 1998–1999: N.A.A. Murphy 1999–2000: W.S.H. Lavery 2000–2001: E. Coleman 2001–2002: R. Loughead 2002–2003: D.M. Crowley 2003–2004: J.K. Quilligan 2004–2005: B.T. Keogh 2005–2006: D.A. Crawford 2006–2007: P.J. Boyle 2007–2008: D.V. Healy 2008–2009: J. Lyons 2009–2010: J.R. Callaghan 2010–2011: Caleb Powell 2011–2012: John D. Hussey 2012–2013: William B. Glynn 2013–2014: Pat Fitzgerald 2014–2015: Louis Magee 2015–2016: Martin O'Sullivan 2016–2017: Stephen Hilditch 2017–2018: Philip Orr 2018–2019: Ian McIlrath 2019–2020: Nicholas Comyn 2020–2022: Des Kavanagh 2022–2023: John Robinson 2023–2024: Greg Barrett 2024–2025: Declan Madden 2025–2026: John O'Driscoll

National teams Ireland national rugby union team Ireland national rugby sevens team Ireland women's national rugby union team Ireland women's national rugby sevens team Ireland Wolfhounds Emerging Ireland Ireland national under-20 rugby union team Ireland national schoolboy rugby union team

Irish Rugby Football Union

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