Major setback for IRFU's blueprint

The IRFU's proposals for a restructuring of the AIB League received a potentially fatal setback last night when representatives of all four divisions met with Union officials and revealed serious opposition from roughly half of the second division clubs. The Union's blueprint for the future of the Irish club game envisaged a format of three divisions as opposed to four, each comprising of 16 teams and divided into two conferences. Matches would be played on a home and away basis.

To arrive at that structure within three years the IRFU had proposed that the first division be expanded from 12 to 14 clubs next season, and again by another two at the end of the 2000/2001 season. Thus, instead of the twodown, two-up relegation/promotion format at the end of the current season between Divisions One and Two, this would have meant the bottom club in Division One, likely to be Galwegians, would play-off with the third-placed side in Division Two.

Given this would have reduced the threat of relegation to a cluster of clubs above Galwegians, and increased their number of matches, it's not surprising that virtually all of the First Division clubs accepted the IRFU's proposals.

More surprising is that one of them hasn't thus far, namely Buccaneers. Mindful of the "Wanderers" fiasco last season in which they were unwittingly embroiled, the newly promoted midlanders object in principle to the goalposts being shifted in mid-season and also fear that the increased number of matches will spread the load too much on contracted provincial players.

Nonetheless, their insistence that two Division One clubs should still be relegated at the season's end has been widely interpreted as being anti-Galwegians, though while conscious of this, leading Buccaneers officials deny that this is the case. The three representatives from the First Division clubs, (namely John Cunningham of St Mary's, Brendan Doyle of Terenure and Gerry McLaughlin of Shannon) will at least have been able to inform the IRFU that Buccaneers are reviewing their decision.

There will have been little such good news from the three representatives of the 16 second division clubs, around half of whom raised their objections to the Union's proposals at their meeting last Wednesday (which also included Monkstown, relegated last season).

Apparently, their reasoning is that having agreed to the existing relegation and promotion formats in writing, it would be wrong to shift the goalposts and open up a whole new legal nest reminiscent of the Wanderers case last season. These clubs also object to the proposed new seasonal itineraries, as they want an earlier start to the AIB League season.

Even the second division clubs would have won at both ends of the table. Aside from opening up a third window of opportunity into the first division via a play-off for the third-placed side in the division, the Union's proposals also entailed a reduction in the number of second division clubs relegated at the season's end from three to two.