Clubs have to choose best league option

The IRFU has offered all AIB League clubs two fixture blueprints for the next two seasons, and told them they must choose one or the other.

The blueprints are printed below in table format, as they would appear for teams in Division One. The clubs have until January 17th to decide among themselves on their preferred format and can then make their recommendation to the IRFU.

Division One, Two and Three clubs have separate associations and when each has canvassed the views of their constituent clubs they will report their findings to the All Ireland League (AIL) working party, a sub-committee of the IRFU. The Division One clubs have four representatives on the working party and the other two divisions have three each.

Option A basically offers the elite clubs (Division One) an opportunity to bring forward the start of the AIL to the last Saturday in September from its present starting point of the first weekend in December. This would allow clubs to reap the financial benefits of better bar profits and gate receipts at an earlier juncture.

Several clubs are known to favour this option. The obvious drawback is they would have to do without their provincially contracted players for seven of the first eight rounds of the league but these players would be available for the last seven league matches and if a club was to reach the AIL semi-final or final. The position on players in the international squad is clearcut: they are available to their clubs on only two occasions before the end of the Six Nations Championship. The IRFU is keen to remove any ambiguity regarding the availability of professionally contracted players.

Where AIL and Heineken European Cup dates clash, the IRFU's director of rugby Eddie Wigglesworth confirmed that the provinces would be encouraged to play their games on Friday nights.

Option B is a replica of the fixture schedule which the clubs enjoy this season. The draft guarantees that provincially contracted players would be available for 13 of a possible 17-match club season. This does not of course take into account potential injury setbacks.

The IRFU is particularly aware that the provincially contracted non-international player needs to play in the league and by doing so it would guarantee him 29 or 30 matches a season. Wigglesworth admitted: "We need a strong, vibrant domestic league."

He also confirmed the present format - three divisions comprising 16 teams - would not be altered over the next three seasons, including this one. Some clubs had sought for the divisions to be split into two pools of eight teams, while others favoured a 10-club elite division. Neither will now happen.

The clubs also put forward in previous meetings with the union a desire that local derbies could be scheduled for the festive season to reduce travelling requirements at those times, something which the IRFU has undertaken to address.

A proposal that games played in the early part of the season without provincially contracted players should be downgraded from four points to two points for victories in those matches won't find favour at union level.

The chief executive of the IRFU, Philip Browne, confirmed the IRFU has a £100,000 budget to promote and market the AIL, underlying an intent to try and put "bums on seats". The clubs will come to their own conclusions but it is clear the IRFU favour Option A as the way forward.

It offers the leagues an opportunity to create their own identity and to nurture young talent. The IRFU can then draft a method of payment that rewards the clubs who produce the young stars of the future.

It'll make the fixture headache seem like a piece of cake.