IRFU Confirm Structure For 24/25 Club Competition Season
7th June 2024 By The Editor
Launch of the Energia All-Ireland League Finals are Harrison Brewer (Terenure College), Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemian), Niamh Byrne (Railway Union) and Jack Kelleher (Cork Constitution) Credit ©INPHO
The season structure for the Men’s and Women’s Energia All-Ireland League has been confirmed for the 2024/25 season.
The Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division will kick off on Saturday 21st September, with the Energia All-Ireland League Women’s set to kick off the following weekend on the Saturday September 28th 2024.
The Energia All-Ireland Women’s semi-finals will be played on Sunday 13th April. There will be no play-off stages for relegation, with the team that finishes bottom of the league relegated to their provincial league.
The winners of the four provincial leagues will play off for promotion, with the top team promoted to the Energia All Ireland League.
The men’s Energia All-Ireland League semi-finals will be played on Saturday 19th April, with their playoff promotion/relegation rounds set for Saturday 26th April.
After the success of this years finals the IRFU will once again again host a double header men’s and women’s finals day, scheduled for Sunday April 27th 2025, which will once again be hosted in the Aviva Stadium.
Both Men’s and Women’s Divisions of Energia AIL will feature two ‘No Rugby Weekends’ this season. These weekends are separate to reserve weekends in the calendar to allow players, coaches and volunteers to manage their time away from rugby. The first No Rugby Weekend will coincide with the men’s final Autumn Nations Series game, against Australia on 30, November.
Provision has also been made for the successful Club International Series, for the Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division players, to continue this season with the intention to play a two game series in a home and away format.
The semi-finals of the Energia Bateman Cup will be played on Sunday 24th November, with the final scheduled for January 4th. The Energia Women’s Junior Cup returns for its third year, which features the top two teams from last seasons provincial leagues. The quarter finals will take place on the weekend of October 12th 2024, semi-finals on the weekend of November 30th 2024, followed by the final on the weekend of January 18th 2025.
The Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship will take place over four rounds. The competition will run between August 10th and August 31st with fixture details to be confirmed in due course.
IRFU Competitions Manager Kevin Beggs said:
“The global calendar is coming into effect and so we were able to map out the domestic season for the coming 12 months with a much clearer picture of what the High Performance calendar looks like.”
“What Clubs want is consistency and that’s what we’re working towards. We are delighted with the engagement and consultations with our AIL Clubs and provincial committees during this process, which is such an important part to develop the season plan, and it’s great to see the understanding and support for the proposed structure.”
