Gerry Thornley On Rugby: Why can't we just leave the AIL alone? Every time the AIB League seems to be carving a niche for itself and settling down, the IRFU, or some of the clubs, become intent on changing things around again. Never the same format for a few years at a time, it's had more changes to its visage than Madonna.
The latest changes, as proposed by some of the IRFU hierarchy and revealed in the Sunday Independent at the weekend, suggest the unsurprising news that prize-money and the union's funding of travel and other expenses within the AIL, are to be more or less halved.
That's bad enough for the clubs, who as usual seem to learn of their fate as a sort of fait accompli, but there will also be moves afoot to reduce the shrinking first division even more.
There are, undoubtedly, powerful figures within the IRFU and self-serving bigger clubs who want a separatist and elitist "Premiership" or top flight comprising eight, ten or at most a dozen clubs. Ideally, some of them would do away with promotion or relegation, and the lower divisions.
Of course, this has its merits, and might even curtail some of the unnecessary expenditure which clubs incur. But there has to be promotion and relegation, there has to be that carrot for the Dolphins of this country to aspire to, and while some unambitious smaller clubs might prefer a comfort zone existence, one imagines the vast majority of second and third division clubs would not agree to what effectively would be their own demise.
Take the example of Clontarf, who finished as top dogs in the AIB League first division. Not so long ago they were a third division club, from the supposedly less fashionable rugby half of the city. And their coach, Phil Werahiko, is not so blinded by Clontarf's new-found status.
"If a club is languishing in provincial leagues with no way into the first division then they are not going to be able to offer young players much," he argues. "Why would a good young player join a club in that situation? He wouldn't, and smaller clubs would gradually stop nurturing talent."
It was instructive to spend last weekend in the company of the third division, i.e., Clifden and the Connemara All Blacks, whose largely academic end-of-season finale at home to Ballina - which doubled as a Connacht Senior Cup quarter-final - drew a good-sized crowd.
(As an aside, one of Ireland's best known supporters Joe O'Meara - who has travelled as far afield as Hong Kong and Samoa supporting Irish sides - has gotten over a serious car crash to resurface in Clifden, where he is now part of the rugby fraternity.) Consolidating their AIL status with a respectable mid-table position two seasons after being a junior club was, in some senses, as big an achievement as winning the Division Three play-offs last season.
Connemara, about eight seasons ago, fielded just one senior team. Now, not only do they field senior and junior teams, but sides at under-age level from 18s all the way down to under-10s, with over 200 kids enrolled in their mini-rugby system. Even the local national school fields three teams every week. The catalyst for all of this has been the AIL success of Connemara. Their incoming president, Liam Keogh, has no doubt that without the AIL the club and ultimately the game in the area would simply die.
In all of this, the IRFU have been vitally important in supporting the club financially. Given Connemara's nearest away game is 60 miles away, and by extension so, too, their nearest visitors to the Monastery Field in Clifden, the club has probably benefited more than most from the union's outlay on expenses.
But halving those overnight allowances would have significant knock-on effects for Connemara and Clifden. Come Saturday tea-time, away teams would henceforth head off down the Galway road soon after the final whistle rather than stay overnight. Two of the club's main sponsors are the Station House Hotel, and the Alcock and Brown Hotel, but without the business generated by away clubs the value of their sponsorship would be greatly reduced, and there would be further knock-on effects for the town's restaurants and bars, such as Griffins, another main sponsor of the club and the unoffical club house. Similar examples would surely apply all across the country.
One of the recent makeovers which has proved an undoubted success in the AIL is the play-off system, à la the SANZAR Super 12s. Clontarf have finished top of the pile and might be entitled to bemoan a system which might yet deny them the title. But, as Werahiko accepts, it has to work both ways.
"Of course it would have been nice for the club if the final day had been last Saturday and we were declared champions. But we knew the rules when we started out, as did everybody else. We could have won the league last year without finishing first.
"But that experience taught us the value of a home semi-final and now we've achieved that."
Alas, the weekend ended on a sad note, when much of the Terenure club seemed to be in attendance at the school's chapel yesterday for the funeral of Mary Keogh, wife of sports writer Tom Keogh, who was one of the most helpful and caring journalists I could ever have encountered when first setting out in this game.
It's hard to believe Mary won't be in attendance at Lakelands Park or Lansdowne Road any more, and it's no wonder Terenure struggled without her this season. Matriarch to as warm and embracing a family as you could meet, be it in rugby or in life, Mary was a genuine and generous spirit, and great company. I'll miss her terribly and our thoughts and hearts are with Tom, Brian, Fiona, Louise and Philip.
