London Irish

For the British Army regiment, see London Irish Rifles.

London Irish

Full name	London Irish Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Exiles
Location	Reading, England
Ground(s)	Madejski Stadium (Capacity: 24,250)
Chairman	Ireland Andrew Coppel
Coach(es)	Toby Booth
Captain(s)	Clarke Dermody
League(s)	Aviva Premiership
2010–11	6th
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.london-irish.com

London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top division of English rugby union, the Aviva Premiership. The club also compete in the Anglo-Welsh Cup as well as one of the two Europe-wide club competitions—the Heineken Cup or European Challenge Cup, depending on their performance in the previous season. The club play at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire until 2026.

The team plays in green and white colours, with a reversed away strip. London Irish won its first major trophy in 2002, claiming the Powergen Cup (the competition that later became the Anglo-Welsh Cup). Irish have also reached the final of the 2009 Guinness Premiership, losing 10-9 to Leicester at Twickenham.^[1] In the 2007/08 the team came close to a place in the Heineken Cup Final losing out to Toulouse 15-21 in a tense encounter at Twickenham.^[2] The club's mascot is an Irish Wolfhound called Digger.

History

London Irish playing at the Madejski Stadium with 22,648 people in attendance

London Irish's line out against Leicester Tigers

London Irish drummers and fans at the Madejski Stadium

Also known as The Exiles, London Irish RFC was founded in 1898 for the young Irishmen of London; it was modelled on the already established London Welsh and London Scottish teams. London Irish suffered during World War I and the Irish War of Independence. It was not until 1923 when the Irish Free State was established and peace returned that the club was able to welcome players from across the Irish Sea on a regular basis.

By the late 1920s the club boasted its first "home grown" Ireland international in S J 'Cags' Cagney who won 13 caps between 1925 and 1929. The club developed a home of its own in 1931 at The Avenue in Sunbury, the first game was played on 5 December against London Welsh; the result was an honourable 8–8 draw. Although the club now play their games as tenants of Reading FC at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, the ground at Sunbury is still its spiritual home.

The 1950s was a period of mixed fortunes for London Irish. In 1959–1960 season London Irish only lost 2 games all season, featuring Ireland International players such as Andy Mulligan & Sean McDermott, Mike (C.M.H.) Gibson (played 1 game in the late 1960s), Tony O'Reilly (who played a handful of games in 1970) and Ollie Waldron (who played in the late 1960s-early 70s), all graced the Sunbury pitch.

The improving quality of fixtures demanded a change in attitude to training and playing as the sixties became the seventies. Under the leadership of the great hooker Ken Kennedy, with the assistance of exceptional players like Nick Hegarty, Mick Molloy and Barry Bresnihan, London Irish became a force to be reckoned with once more. In 1976–77 the Rugby Football Union introduced proper club merit tables and in that season London Irish finished first in the London Division with six wins out of seven. The Irish made visits to France and famously to South Africa in 1977 where the club became the first touring side to play so many mixed race teams.

In playing terms the eighties were another period of inconsistency. The first team struggled to find reliable form as work pressures made more demands on players' time making them unavailable for regular training and matches. Happily, at the lower levels and socially London Irish continued to thrive. In 1990–91 London Irish were promoted to the first division with a side containing four new Ireland internationals: Simon Geoghegan, Jim Staples, David Curtis and Rob Saunders, the youngest ever captain of his country at 22 years of age.

The harsh financial realities of playing at the top end of the game in England gradually became clear to all the country's senior clubs including London Irish in the early years of the decade. Operating losses mounted and but for the generosity of key benefactors at the time, the club would have struggled to survive. The financial struggles were reflected on the pitch where London Irish failed to make any impact in the leagues despite employing the services of a number of high profile coaches.

In 1999 London Irish merged with London Scottish and Richmond to form a new umbrella company to support the professional team which now competes in the Aviva Premiership in England. An amateur club was also formed at this time, London Irish Amateur RFC, which remains in Sunbury. The club won its first piece of silverware in 2002 by beating Northampton Saints in the Powergen Cup final at Twickenham.

Academy

London Irish have a thriving academy set up, with players such as Nick Kennedy, Topsy Ojo and Delon Armitage having gone on to play for the senior side and be internationally capped.

Stadium

London Irish play at the Madejski Stadium, in Reading. Madejski is the home of Reading FC and was opened in August 1998. The ground is a 24,161 all-seater capacity.

All London Irish home matches are played at the Madejski. The largest crowd for a London Irish match was for a game against London Wasps on 15 March 2008 during the 2007-08 Guinness Premiership. The crowd of 23,790 was also the highest attendance for a regular season Guinness Premiership match ^[3] until December 2008.

Current standing

English Premiership Table watch · edit · discuss
	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Harlequins	8	8	0	0	234	143	+91	23	13	2	0	34
2	Saracens	8	7	0	1	195	122	+73	17	12	1	1	30
3	London Irish	8	3	1	4	221	195	+26	20	18	2	4	20
4	Gloucester	8	4	0	4	167	163	+4	14	15	0	3	19
5	Sale Sharks	8	4	0	4	177	201	-24	18	19	1	2	19
6	Northampton Saints	8	4	0	4	177	136	+41	15	10	1	1	18
7	Bath	8	4	0	4	153	169	-16	12	9	0	2	18
8	London Wasps	8	4	0	4	148	169	-21	15	10	1	1	18
9	Exeter Chiefs	8	3	0	5	150	170	-20	14	17	1	4	17
10	Leicester Tigers	8	2	1	5	210	231	-21	20	25	1	3	14
11	Worcester Warriors	8	2	1	5	110	151	-41	7	13	0	2	12
12	Newcastle Falcons	8	1	1	6	130	222	-92	9	23	0	1	7
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: Number of matches won Difference between points for and against Total number of points for Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places, and receive berths in the 2011–12 Heineken Cup. Blue background (rows 5 and 6) are clubs that do not make the play-offs, but will receive Heineken Cup berths. Red background (row 12) to be relegated if the champion of the RFU Championship meets the requirements for promotion. Updated 09 October 2011 — Current English Leagues source:Premiership Rugby Notes:

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.

Player Position Union Brian Blaney Hooker Ireland James Buckland Hooker England David Paice Hooker England Alex Corbisiero Prop England Clarke Dermody (c) Prop New Zealand Leo Halavatau Prop Tonga Paulică Ion Prop Romania Faan Rautenbach Prop South Africa Bob Casey Lock Ireland Bryn Evans Lock New Zealand Matthew Garvey Lock England Gary Johnson Lock England Nick Kennedy Lock England James Sandford Lock Ireland Declan Danaher Flanker England Juan Cruz Jordan Flanker Argentina Kieran Roche Flanker England Edward Siggery Flanker Wales Jebb Sinclair Flanker Canada Richard Thorpe Flanker England Alex Gray Number 8 England Chris Hala'ufia Number 8 Tonga

Player Position Union Darren Allinson Scrum-half Wales Paul Hodgson Scrum-half England Ross Samson Scrum-half Scotland Daniel Bowden Fly-half New Zealand Adrian Jarvis Fly-half England Steven Shingler Fly-half Wales Joe Ansbro Centre Scotland Shontayne Hape Centre England Jonathan Joseph Centre England Jonathan Spratt Centre Wales Topsy Ojo Wing England Sailosi Tagicakibau Wing Samoa Adam Thompstone Wing England Delon Armitage Fullback England Tom Homer Fullback England

Current England Elite squad

• Alex Corbisiero
• Delon Armitage
• Shontayne Hape

Current England Saxons squad

• Steffon Armitage
• Paul Hodgson

Current internationally capped players

• Alfredo Lalanne
• Jebb Sinclair
• Delon Armitage
• Alex Corbisiero
• Paul Hodgson
• Nick Kennedy
• Topsy Ojo
• David Paice
• Bob Casey
• Clarke Dermody
• Paulică Ion
• Sailosi Tagicakibau
• Joe Ansbro
• Faan Rautenbach
• Chris Hala'ufia
• William Johnson
• Jonathan Spratt

Transfers 2011/12

Players In

• Jebb Sinclair (from The Rock) ^[4]
• Shontayne Hape (from Bath) ^[5]
• Adrian Jarvis (from Leeds Carnegie) ^[6]
• James Sandford (from Rotherham Titans) ^[7]
• Bryn Evans (from Hawke's Bay) ^[8]
• Joe Ansbro (from Northampton Saints) ^[9]
• Ross Samson (from Edinburgh) ^[10]
• Leo Halavatau (from Birmingham & Solihull) ^[11]
• Edward Siggery (from Pontypridd RFC) ^[12]
• Steven Shingler (from Scarlets) ^[13]
• Jonathan Spratt (from Ospreys) ^[10]

Players Out

• Alfredo Lalanne (to London Scottish
• Chris Malone - Retiring, Coaching at Sydney University ^[14]
• Steffon Armitage (to Toulon) ^[15]
• Jon Fisher (to Bedford Blues) ^[16]
• Ryan Lamb (to Northampton Saints) ^[17]
• Jamie Lennard (to Bedford Blues) ^[18]
• Dan Murphy (to Gloucester) ^[19]
• Ben Stevenson ^[20]
• James Tideswell (to London Welsh) ^[20]
• Seilala Mapusua (to Kubota Spears) ^[21]
• Elvis Seveali'i (to Bourgoin) ^[22]
• George Stowers (to Ospreys) ^[23]
• William Johnson ^[24]

Notable Irish players

• Justin Bishop (wing, 25 caps between 1998 and 2003)
• Barry Bresnihan (centre, 25 caps 1966–71)
• Niall Brophy (wing, 20 caps 1957–67)
• Paul Burke (out-half, 13 caps 1998–2003)
• Kieran Campbell (scrum-half, 3 caps 2005)
• Bob Casey (second-row, 7 caps 1999–2009)
• Paul Collins (wing-forward, 2 caps 1987–90)
• Hugh Condon (centre, 1 cap 1984)
• Victor Costello (number 8, 39 caps 1996–2004)
• David Curtis (centre, 13 caps 1991–92)
• Jeremy Davidson (second-row, 32 caps 1995–2001)
• Kieron Dawson (wing-forward, 21 caps 1997–2003)
• Justin Fitzpatrick (prop-forward, 26 caps 1998–2003)
• Neil Francis (second-row, 36 caps 1987–96)
• Gabriel Fulcher (second-row, 20 caps 1994–98)
• Simon Geoghegan (wing, 37 caps, 1991–96)
• Michael Gibson (number 8, 10 caps 1979–88)
• Mike Gibson (centre, 69 caps 1964–79)
• Gary Halpin (prop-forward, 11 caps 1990–95)
• Rob Henderson (centre, 29 caps 1996–2003)
• Niall Hogan (scrum-half, 13 caps 1995–97)
• Kenneth Houston (wing, 6 caps 1961–65)
• Tyrone Howe (wing, 14 caps 2000–04)
• David Humphreys (out-half, 72 caps 1996–2006)
• Ken Kennedy (hooker, 45 caps 1965–75)
• Paul Kennedy (prop-forward, 2 caps 1986)
• Patrick Lavery (centre, 2 caps 1974–76)
• Brian McCall (second-row, 3 caps 1985–86)
• Mark McCall (centre, 13 caps 1992–98)
• Ronald McCarten (wing, 3 caps 1961)
• Aidan McCullen (wing-forward, 1 cap 2003)
• Alistair McKibbin (centre, 14 caps 1977–80)
• Mick Molloy (second-row, 27 caps 1966–76)
• Andy Mulligan (scrum-half, 22 caps 1956–61)
• Brendan Mullin (centre, 55 caps 1984–95)
• John Murphy (full-back, 6 caps 1951–58)
• Des O'Brien (number 8, 20 caps 1948–52)
• John O'Driscoll (wing-forward, 26 caps 1978–84)
• Kevin O'Flanagan (wing, 1 cap 1947)
• Malcolm O'Kelly (second-row, 92 caps 1997–2009)
• Tony O'Reilly (wing, 29 caps 1955–70)
• Conor O'Shea (full-back, 35 caps 1993–2000)
• Patrick Parfrey (wing, 1 cap 1974)
• Brian Robinson (number 8, 25 caps 1991–94)
• Robin Roe (hooker, 21 caps 1952–57)
• Rob Saunders (scrum-half, 12 caps 1991–94)
• John Smith (prop-forward, 12 caps 1951–54)
• Dick Spring (full-back, 3 caps 1979)
• Jim Staples (full-back, 26 caps 1991–97)
• Jeremy Staunton (out-half, 5 caps 2001–07)
• Robin Thompson (second-row, 11 caps 1951–56)
• Oliver Waldron (second-row, 3 caps 1966–68)
• Niall Woods (wing, 8 caps 1994–99)

Other notable players

• Juan Manuel Leguizamón
• Tom Wardle
• Phil Murphy
• James Cantion
• Mike Catt
• Riki Flutey
• Paul Sackey
• Olivier Magne
• Jarrod Cunningham
• Danie Coetzee
• Brendan Venter
• Brent Cockbain

Honours

• English Premiership:
  • Runners-up: 2008–09
• European Challenge Cup:
  • Runners-up: 2005–06
• John Player Cup/Powergen/EDF Energy/LV= Cup:
  • Champions: 2002
  • Runners-up: 1980
• Middlesex Sevens:
  • Champions: 2009

London Irish Amateur

London Irish Amateur

Full name	London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club
Union	RFU
Nickname(s)	Irish, The Wild Geese[25]
Founded	September 1999[26]
Location	Sunbury-on-Thames, England
Ground(s)	The Avenue
Chairman	David Fitzgerald
President	Bosco McAuliffe
Coach(es)	Jamie Balls MBE
Captain(s)	David Reilly
League(s)	National League 3 London & SE
Official website
www.london-irish-amateur.co.uk

London Irish also run London Irish Amateur for non-professionals to allow them to improve in Rugby. The team play at the location of London Irish's training ground and offices, The Avenue in Sunbury. Some players such as Justin Bishop and Kieran Campbell have come through the ranks to play for London Irish.^[27]

Digger

Digger

Digger is an Irish Wolfhound and official mascot of London Irish. He has an extremely important job of providing support to the Club.

Honours

On 30 May 2003 Digger won the "Best Mascot" award in the Zurich Premiership at the Premier Rugby Marketing Awards held at Twickenham.^[28]

Charity work

On 23 April 2006, Digger ran the London Marathon raising money for Spinal Research. Digger finished the marathon in a time of 6 hours 39 minutes 31 seconds.^[29]

Colleagues

Digger was joined by his cousin, Duggie, from the 2006/07 season. Much taller and much slower, Duggie has proved popular with younger children attending matchdays although Digger remains the Top Dog. As well as the two mascots, there is also a real Wolfhound, Mr Doyle, who also attends the home games. Before Mr Doyle there was also another Wolfhound, Jumbo, before Jumbo retired.

Trivia

• The Exiles once took part in an episode of Jackass. They were given the job of teaching Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius how to play rugby, no matter how rough it got.

See also

• London Cornish
• London Scottish
• London Welsh

References

1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/8048413.stm
2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7363046.stm
3. ^ "No Luck on Paddy's Day for Irish". Guinness Premiership.com. http://www.guinnesspremiership.com/127_23371.php. Retrieved 16 march 2008. 
4. ^ "London Irish sign Canada's Jebb Sinclair". BBC Sport. 27 July 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9549613.stm. 
5. ^ "London Irish sign Bath & England centre Shontayne Hape". BBC Sport. 22 February 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9404430.stm. 
6. ^ "London Irish sign fly-half Adrian Jarvis". BBC Sport. 7 July 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9533097.stm. 
7. ^ "London Irish sign James Sandford from Rotherham Titans". BBC Sport. 6 April 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9448562.stm. 
8. ^ "London Irish sign All Blacks lock Bryn Evans". BBC Sport. 24 May 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9495602.stm. 
9. ^ "London Irish sign Saints and Scotland centre Joe Ansbro". BBC Sport. 3 February 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9386306.stm. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "London Irish sign duo Jonathan Spratt and Ross Samson". BBC Sport. 9 May 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13336389.stm. 
11. ^ "Halavatua set to leave the Bees for London Irish". RFU. 4 March 2011. http://www.rfu.com/News/2011/March/News%20Articles/040311_Leo_Bees_London_Irish.aspx. 
12. ^ "The Sig departs". Ponty.net. 15 June 2011. http://www.ponty.net/the-sig-departs. 
13. ^ "London Irish sign Steven Shingler from Scarlets". BBC Sport. 18 January 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9362155.stm. 
14. ^ "Planning to finish on a high in final season". Irish Times. 2 May 2011. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/0502/1224295866907.html. 
15. ^ "Steffon Armitage to leave London Irish for Toulon". BBC Sport. 13 May 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13114736.stm. 
16. ^ "Blues capture quartet". Sky Sports. 18 May 2011. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,19133_6938405,00.html. 
17. ^ "Northampton Saints sign Martin Roberts & Ryan Lamb". BBC Sport. 18 March 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/northampton/9429303.stm. 
18. ^ "Double delight for Bedford". Sky Sports. 18 April 2011. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,19133_6882593,00.html. 
19. ^ "Gloucester sign prop Dan Murphy from London Irish". BBC Sport. 6 April 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/12983674.stm. 
20. ^ ^{a b} "Ben Stevenson, James Tideswell and Greg Bateman sign with London Welsh – Rugby news". Bettor.com. 31 May 2011. http://blogs.bettor.com/Ben-Stevenson,-James-Tideswell-and-Greg-Bateman-sign-with-London-Welsh-Rugby-news-a72528. 
21. ^ "Seilala Mapusua to leave London Irish at end of season". BBC Sport. 19 January 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/london_irish/9365819.stm. 
22. ^ (French) "CSBJ : recrutement terminé". leprogres.fr. 11 June 2011. http://www.leprogres.fr/sports/2011/06/11/le-lou-n-a-pas-fini-son-recrutement. 
23. ^ "Samoa back-rower George Stowers joins Ospreys". BBC Sport. 24 March 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/my_club/ospreys/9434573.stm. 
24. ^ "Mapusua: London Irish have talent to challenge". getwokingham.co.uk. 29 April 2011. http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/sport/rugby/london_irish/s/2091888_mapusua_london_irish_have_talent_to_challenge. 
25. ^ "Wild Geese on brink of the title". guardian.co.uk. http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugbyheadlines/7986840.Wild_Geese_on_brink_of_the_title//about_us.html. Retrieved 2010-04-12. 
26. ^ "About Us". London-Irish-Amateur.co.uk. http://www.london-irish-amateur.co.uk/about_us.html. Retrieved 2010-04-11. 
27. ^ http://www.london-irish-amateur.co.uk/about_us.html
28. ^ "Digger Wins 'Best Mascot' Award". London Irish. http://www.london-irish.com/news/Irish10991.ink. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 
29. ^ "Steven Orton is fundraising for Spinal Research – JustGiving". Just Giving. http://www.justgiving.com/diggerdoeslondon?pid=264712&dtpn=1&ShortUrl=diggerdoeslondon. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 

External links

• Official site
• Sunbury Centre
• Order Of The Odd-Shaped Ball
• The Craic
• London Irish Amateur RFC
• London Irish on Rugby15
• London Irish ERCrugby.com