London Irish

London Irish
Full name	London Irish Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Exiles, Reading Irish
Founded	1898
Location	Reading, England
Ground(s)	Madejski Stadium
Capacity	24,250
Coach	Toby Booth
Captain	Bob Casey
League	Guinness Premiership
2007-08	7th
Home colours		Away colours
Official website
www.london-irish.com

For the British Army regiment see London Irish Rifles

London Irish (also known as The Exiles) is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey where the senior squad train, and the youth teams and senior academy play home games. The professional club shares the Sunbury facilities with London Irish Amateur RFC and competes in the top division of English rugby union, the Guinness Premiership. The club also competes in the Anglo-Welsh EDF Energy Cup as well as the European Rugby Cups; the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup. The club will play at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, Berkshire, some 40 miles west of central London, until 2026.

London Irish was founded in 1898 for the young Irish people of the city, following the formation of similar clubs in London, including the London Welsh and London Scottish. The team plays in green and white colours, with a reversed away strip. The club's mascot is an Irish Wolfhound called Digger. London Irish won its first major trophy in 2002, claiming the Powergen Cup (now EDF Energy Cup) and in the 2007/2008 a resurgent team came close to a place in the Heineken Cup Final losing out to Toulouse in a tight encounter at Twickenham stadium.

History

Also known as The Exiles, London Irish RFC was formed 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 50s 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 60's), Tony O'Reilly (who played a handful of games in 1970) and Ollie Waldron (who played in the late 60's-early 70's), 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 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 was 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 competes in the Guinness 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.

Stadium

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

While Reading F.C. had received local authority approval for a stadium expansion, it now seems unlikely to go ahead following the club's relegation from football's Premier League. 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 March 15, 2008 during the 2007-08 Guinness Premiership. The crowd of 23,790 was also the highest attendance for a regular season Guinness Premiership match.^[1]

Current standing

Current squad

Nat. Position Player HK James Buckland HK Danie Coetzee HK David Paice PR Alex Corbisiero PR Clarke Dermody PR Tonga Lea'aetoa PR Dan Murphy PR Faan Rautenbach PR Richard Skuse LK Bob Casey (c) LK James Hudson LK Gary Johnson LK Nick Kennedy FL Steffon Armitage FL Declan Danaher FL Jonathon Fisher FL Kieran Roche

Nat. Position Player N8 Chris Hala'ufia N8 Richard Thorpe SH Warren Fury SH Paul Hodgson SH Peter Richards FH Shane Geraghty FH Eoghan Hickey CE Mike Catt CE Seilala Mapusua CE Elvis Seveali'i CE Adam Thompstone WG Tomás de Vedia WG Topsy Ojo WG Dominic Shabbo WG Sailosi Tagicakibau FB Delon Armitage FB Peter Hewat

^[2]

Signings for 2008-2009 season:

• Chris Hala'ufia from Harlequins.
• James Buckland from London Wasps.
• Elvis Seveali'i from Sale Sharks.

Current England Elite Squad

• Peter Richards
• Shane Geraghty
• Nick Kennedy

Other Internationally Capped Players

• Tomás de Vedia
• Paul Hodgson
• Mike Catt
• Topsy Ojo
• Bob Casey
• Jeremy Staunton
• Clarke Dermody
• Seilala Mapusua
• Elvis Seveali'i
• Sailosi Tagicakibau
• Danie Coetzee
• Faan Rautenbach
• Chris Hala'ufia
• Tonga Lea'aetoa
• Warren Fury

Notable Former Players

Honours

• European Challenge Cup:
  • Runners-up: 2006
• John Player Cup/Powergen Cup:
  • Champions: 2002
  • Runners-up: 1980

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.

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

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