London Irish

London Irish

Full name	London Irish Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Exiles
Founded	1898 (1898)
Location	Reading, Berkshire, England
Ground(s)	Madejski Stadium (Capacity: 24,161[1])
Chairman	Kieran McCarthy
CEO	Bob Casey
President	Michael Crossan
Director of Rugby	Nick Kennedy
Captain(s)	Luke Narraway
League(s)	Greene King IPA Championship
2015–16	Premiership, 12th (relegated)
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
london-irish.com

London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club originally 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. It competed in the top division of English rugby union between 1996 and 2015-16, after which it was relegated into the Greene King IPA Championship. Whilst in the Premiership, the club also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup as well as one of the two Europe-wide club competitions—the European Champions Cup or European Challenge Cup, depending on their performance in the previous season. From October 2016 it will play in the British and Irish Cup in addition to the Championship. The club will continue to play its home games 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 also reached the final of the 2009 English Premiership, narrowly losing 10–9 to Leicester Tigers at Twickenham Stadium.^[2] In the 2007–08 season the team came close to a place in the Heineken Cup Final losing out to Stade Toulousain 15–21 in a tense semi-final encounter at Twickenham Stadium.^[3] The club's mascot is an Irish Wolfhound called Digger.

History

The squad that played Racing Métro 92 at Parc des Princes in 1899.

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

A match v Ulster in 2006.

London Irish's line out against Leicester Tigers.

London Irish drummers and fans at the Madejski Stadium.

London Irish was the last club to be formed in England by working and student exiles from the home countries, following London Scottish in 1878 and London Welsh in 1895. The first game took place on 1 October 1898 against the former Hammersmith club at Herne Hill Athletic Ground, London Irish winning by eight points to three. The team benefited from the early recruitment of vet and Irish international Louis Magee.^[4]

Academy

London Irish manage their own academy, with players such as Nick Kennedy, Jonathan Joseph, 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 stadium, and was the largest used as a regular home ground in the premiership before Wasps moved to the Ricoh Arena in 2014.

With the exception of the annual London Double Header at Twickenham, 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^[5] until December 2008.

On 12 March 2016 London Irish played their first home match away from Madejski (and Twickenham), and also the first-ever Premiership match outside England, when they travelled to the USA to face Saracens at the New York Red Bulls' Red Bull Arena in the New York metropolitan area.^[6]

The club announced on 15 August 2016 of their intention to return to London and that they were in formal discussion with Hounslow London Borough Council to play at Brentford FC's new stadium.^[7]

Current standings

Current squad

2016-17 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Gerard Ellis Hooker England Todd Gleave Hooker England Jason Harris-Wright Hooker Ireland David Paice Hooker England Dave Porecki Hooker Australia Tom Court Prop Ireland Ben Franks Prop New Zealand Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi Prop England Ollie Hoskins Prop Australia Richard Palframan Prop South Africa Tom Smallbone Prop England Sebastian de Chaves Lock South Africa Will Lloyd Lock New Zealand George Robson Lock England Jerry Sexton Lock Ireland Jebb Sinclair Lock Canada Mike Coman Flanker New Zealand Conor Gilsenan Flanker Ireland Max Northcote-Green Flanker England Joe Trayfoot Flanker England Ofisa Treviranus Flanker Samoa Blair Cowan Number 8 Scotland Luke Narraway Number 8 England Senitiki Nayalo Number 8 Fiji

Player Position Union Darren Allinson Scrum-half Wales Brendan McKibbin Scrum-half Australia Scott Steele Scrum-half Scotland Theo Brophy-Clews Fly-half England James Marshall Fly-half New Zealand Ciaran Hearn Centre Canada Fergus Mulchrone Centre England Asaeli Tikoirotuma Centre Fiji Johnny Williams Centre England Tom Fowlie Wing England Alex Lewington Wing England Topsy Ojo Wing England Tommy Bell Fullback England Greig Tonks Fullback Scotland Ben Ransom Fullback England

Academy squad

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

Player Position Union Austin Hay Prop England Matt Kouris Hooker England Harry Elrington Prop England Jack Cooke Lock England Isaac Curtis-Harris Flanker England Connor Murphy Scrum-half England Rory Brand Scrum-half England Jacob Atkins Scrum-half England Tom Parton Fly-half England Ross Neal Centre England Joe Cokanasiga Wing England Matthew Williams Centre England

Notable former players

Current kit

The kit is supplied by O'Neills. On the front of the shirt, Powerday is at the centre with Etixx and FoodCloud on the right sleeve. On the back of the shirt, main sponsor Powerday is on the back collar while Pump Technology is at the top. On the shorts, VGC appear on the right leg. The club's logo is embossed diagonally across the bottom left in a different shade of emerald.

Honours

• English Premiership:
  • Runners-up: 2008–09
• European Challenge Cup:
  • Runners-up: 2005–06
• Anglo-Welsh Cup:
  • Champions: 2002
  • Runners-up: 1980
• Middlesex Sevens:
  • Champions: 2009
• Premiership Rugby Sevens Series
  • Champions: 2012
• Cunningham Duncombe Series
  • Champions: 2016

London Irish Amateur logo.

London Irish Amateur

London Irish also host London Irish Amateur RFC (a separate legal entity) for non-professionals to allow them to improve in Rugby. The team play at the location of London Irish's training ground and offices, Hazelwood in Sunbury. Some players such as Justin Bishop and Kieran Campbell have come through the ranks to play for London Irish.^[8]

Digger

Digger

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

On 30 May 2003 Digger won the "Best Mascot" award in the English Premiership at the Premier Rugby Marketing Awards.^[9]

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.^[10]

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. As well as Digger, there is also a real Irish Wolfhound, Mr Doyle, who also attends the home games. Before Mr Doyle, his Great Uncle, Jumbo, attended home game before Jumbo retired and eventually died.

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.
• A main character in the book, The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edward D Malone, a journalist, was also a player on the London Irish and scored a try.
• YouTube phenomenon KSI (entertainer) made videos with London Irish at Hazelwood with Rule'm Sports.

See also

• Rugby union in London
• London Cornish
• London Scottish
• London Welsh
• Richmond
• Rugby union in the United States
• Hazelwood

References

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

Borough of Spelthorne
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