Clubs reject IRFU plan

The Association of First Division Clubs have not been slow in countering this week's move by the IRFU, who delivered their version of how the future of the club game should look in Ireland at a meeting in Lansdowne Road on Wednesday.

A fully attended meeting of all 15 first division clubs took place in the Great Southern Hotel at Dublin Airport on Thursday night and arrived at a consensus that totally rejected proposals laid out by the union the previous day.

The union's idea to revert to a provincial league structure as a qualification process for an All-Ireland competition was not acceptable to the first division clubs.

They will now begin discussions with all second and third division clubs in an attempt to gain a majority support from the 48 teams for their proposals, which were outlined in a brief statement issued yesterday.

"We reject the format put forward by the IRFU as being the best way forward for Irish rugby. We wish to retain the AIB League as a first, second and third division structure with promotion and relegation, and we wish to review the financial administration and match time table of the league," said chairman of the association, Wally Morrissey, in his statement.

"Finally we wish to review their proposal with the second and third division clubs so as to put forward a joint proposal to the IRFU endorsed by the majority of the clubs in the first, second and third divisions."

At the meeting it was widely agreed that this time the union had got it completely wrong, with many of the clubs now deeply concerned for their survival if they are forced into a provincial scene.

Clubs like the community-based Carlow, which can occasionally attract crowds of up to 2,000 to Oakpark for games against the big Dublin and Limerick sides, remain unconvinced of the merits of the union's plans.

From other clubs there was a significant degree of anger over the way the union chose to interpret the information they received from the Consultative Process and the Genesis study, and that what they came up with was a mishmash of the three proposals on the table.

The next move will be for the first division clubs to continue discussions with all of the other clubs affected by the union's plans and try to reach a consensus that they feel would better represent the interests of club rugby.

However, yesterday the management committee of the Leinster Branch and the Executive and Domestic Rugby Committees of the Ulster Branch both gave their support to the IRFU plans.