[Update April 12, 2014 : With Garrowen set to be relegated from the top division of the Ulster Bank League and Terenure ready to take their place, I have decided to re-post this blog from January 2013. The powers that be are currently looking at ways to re-jig the AIL and even though I am a Leinster fan, I feel the current structure hampers the game nationally in that it allows for the possibility of a top flight entirely made up of teams from one province, a status that is getting closer every season.]
No senior pro rugby this weekend…why not get out and support your local club?
In the new hit movie “Zero Dark Thirty”, CIA agents continuously talk about how they plan to eliminate “UBL”.
Perhaps that’s a bit of a far-fetched course of action to fix all that is wrong with the Ulster Bank League, but since it’s common knowledge around Irish club rugby that something needs to be done, it could at least be used at a starting point from which to work back?
This is a week where I really feel the club game in this country needs to take the bull by the horns and promote itself. There’s no senior provincial or international rugby next weekend, yet there is a full programme of matches in the UBL. Wouldn’t take that much marketing to show the combined 50k+ fans that tend to show up for home Pro12/Heineken Cup matches that it would be well worth a tenner or less to go watch their local side once in a while.
Not that nothing is being done at all, mind you. I was impressed by the “family pass” to a UBL game that was included with my Leinster season ticket for example, and I’m seriously considering using it this weekend for St Mary’s match against Cork Con at Templeville Road.
Thing is though, it seems a lot more needs to be done to improve the league, and from the feedback I have heard, the biggest action that can be taken would be to reduce the travelling costs for the clubs. Apparently a 50-team national structure just isn’t viable – for example in the very first series of UBL matches this season, Armagh RFC were expected to make a round trip of over 8 hours to play Clonakilty.
Now let’s be clear before I go on…I have a suggestion for how to re-structure the league, but it is merely that, just a suggestion, to help a debate along. I don’t think for a minute I have “cracked it” or anything, and there are far, far wiser heads than mine out there. For example last summer Emerald Rugby had the idea of a semi-professional league while over at the specialist grass-roots website Knock-On.ie the subject has been oft-discussed via blog posts and podcasts.
So here is my two cents’ worth…
1) CONFERENCE STRUCTURE
While I understand the desire to cut down travelling costs, I still feel there not only needs to be a national league at club level, there also needs to be a championship final to determine the champions. An annual Grand Final played at a time where there is no pro rugby scheduled up against it is crucial to promoting the league as a whole.
To accomplish both the above goals, why not introduce a conference system like that used in Super Rugby? I have taken the top teams in each province and put them together below…again, remember it is merely a suggestion.
Teams could play everyone in their conference home and away, plus perhaps three home and three away against teams from the other conferences to produce a 16-game schedule. Yes, I know the Conn/Ulster conference would involve some travel, but perhaps the league and/or sponsors could help them out in this regard.
All the other teams would go into a pyramid structure back in their own provinces, and each province could determine how their champions could earn a place in the national league, whether on a merit system, by direct promotion/relegation or by play-off.
| CONNACHT/ULSTER | LEINSTER | MUNSTER |
| Ballynahinch | Lansdowne | Garryowen |
| Buccaneers | Clontarf | Young Munster |
| Belfast Harlequins | Old Belvedere | Cork Constitution |
| Malone | St Mary’s | Dolphin |
| Dungannon | Dublin University | UL Bohemian |
| Galwegians | UCD | Shannon |
Then at the end of the regular season, the conference winners plus the best runners-up could go into semifinals, or to make it more interesting they could go for a six-team playoff format as in Super Rugby.
2) DRAFT SYSTEM
Yes, I know it looks like I want to turn Irish club rugby into the NFL! But my argument is that just because these systems are ones they use in American sport, that doesn’t mean they don’t belong in rugby.
Besides, the draft is something I notice they currently use in Scottish rugby. Over there, the first division clubs get to draft in the professional players from the two pro clubs Glasgow and Edinburgh each season.
I think that’s an excellent idea that could work here. Before each season begins, the clubs in the national league could draft players from the provincial clubs. This way, for example, if a club like Shannon was struggling for back row forwards they could look to draft one of Munster’s Academy prospects. Each club would be responsible for using the draft to help their cause. Then by the following season they could be sorted there with a new player of their own coming through and now they’re looking for a scrum-half.
I reckon everyone from the pro squads should be used in the draft, it’s just clubs wouldn’t be keen to pick someone like Jamie Heaslip as he obviously wouldn’t be available to them throughout the season. However if a team does decide to draft a player of his stature, he could be available to them for one or two promotional nights at the club throughout the season, so basically each club would have a decision to make about their draft picks.
The draft itself could be used as an occasion to promote the league, with live coverage online generating a viewership and extra media column-inches all on its own, extra attention that I’m sure the sponsors would love.
3) MORKESHING
I have already spoken in this post about how I feel the league can do more to promote itself, but here are more suggestions…
The scheduling of matches needs to be looked at, with more Friday night games or even maybe one match per round on Monday/Tuesday night for some national TV coverage?
And here’s a bug-bear of mine…the national league DEFINITELY needs its own website. Sorry IRFU, I know you do everything you can to promote the game via your own site, but navigation around your Ulster Bank League section is laboured at best. For example, I don’t see why all the league fixtures for a given day can’t be seen on a single page, same goes for the league tables?
If it were my company sponsoring the league I would certainly want a dedicated website where fans could go to get all the relevant information presented in a user-friendly way, then they would keep coming back throughout the season and thus my logo would be seen a lot more often.
***
ANYWAY…they are just some thoughts I had. No doubt they will never happen. But hopefully the powers-that-be will at least recognise that the status quo isn’t a viable option for the club game going forward (as much as I hate that phrase outside an actual rugby match!)
In the meantime, see if you can make it to a match this weekend; if you haven’t been before, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. JLP
