RLI Premiership explained

RLI Premiership
Current Season:2024 Rugby League Ireland season#RLI Premiership
Sport:Rugby league
Country: Ireland
Teams:5
Relegation:RLI Championship (via request)
Levels:1
Champions:Banbridge Broncos
Champ Season:2023
Most Champs:Treaty City Titans (8 titles)

The RLI Premiership is the top tier of domestic rugby league in Ireland founded in 1997.

The competition was founded as the "All-Ireland Challenge Cup", and has undergone many name changed in history having also been named the "All-Ireland League", "Irish Elite League", "All-Ireland Championship", and "All-Ireland Rugby League Championship" before being named its current title.

History

The first domestic rugby league club in Ireland were the Dublin Blues. They were a club founded in 1989 by Brian Corrigan.

Following the formation of the Ireland national side in 1995 a league competition was mooted to aid further development. So in 1997 the first Rugby League tournament began in Ireland. Under the title "All-Ireland Challenge Cup" eight clubs, Belfast Buccaneers, Tallaght Tigers, Churchtown Warriors, East Coast Panthers (from Bray), Bangor Vikings, Dublin Blues, Northside Saints, and Cork Bulls chased the first ever title. Fittingly the oldest club Dublin Blues lifted the trophy.

Northside Saints (from Dublin) won the following season before Dublin Blues won the title for the second time. 2000 brought victory for another Dublin club in Churchtown Warriors before Cork Bulls briefly ended the Dubliners dominance. Dublin City Exiles won the first of two consecutive titles, both against Dublin Blues in 2002.

Clontarf Bulls were surprise winners in 2004, the next campaign saw the emergence of Treaty City Titans (from Limerick) as a truly dominant force they would go on and win six of the next seven championships, many of which saw them go undefeated. In the season they didn't win they were runner-up to Carlow Crusaders in 2008 a side they had beaten in the previous two finals.

During this time, in 2006, the competition moved away from the provincial league system with national playoffs to pursue a single national league.

In 2010, the field Country Cowboys won their first title in 2012, it was back to the norm in 2013 as Treaty City Titans lifted their 7th title.

The Titans had to settle for runners-up the next season as Barnhall Butchers won for the first time. Treaty City Titans after an indifferent campaign won again in 2015 and in 2016 we were guaranteed a new name on the trophy as debutant finalists Galway Tribesmen overcame 2012 runners-up Ballynahinch Rabbitohs.

Source:[1]

Current Teams (2024)

ClubLocation
Dublin City Exiles Dublin
Banbridge Broncos Banbridge
Galway Tribesmen Galway
Longhorns RL Dublin
Cork Bulls Cork

List of finals

Year! scope="col"
Winning teamScoreLosing team
1997Dublin BluesTallaght Tigers[2]
1998Northside Saints48–24Dublin Blues
1999Dublin Blues24–18Cork Bulls
2000Churchtown Warriors
2001Cork Bulls16–12Dublin City Exiles
2002Dublin City Exiles26–18Dublin Blues[3]
2003Dublin City Exiles28–26Dublin Blues[4]
2004Clontarf Bulls32–30Dublin Blues
2005Treaty City Titans36–30Kildare Dragons[5]
2006Treaty City Titans24–10Carlow Crusaders
2007Treaty City Titans38–22Carlow Crusaders[6]
2008Carlow Crusaders24–8Treaty City Titans
2009Treaty City Titans33–26Carlow Crusaders
2010Treaty City Titans52–24Dublin City Exiles
2011Treaty City Titansw/oCarlow Crusaders[7]
2012Country Cowboys28–24Ballynahinch Rabbitohs
2013Treaty City Titans36–16Dublin City Exiles
2014Barnhill Butchers25–24Treaty City Titans[8]
2015Treaty City Titans28–18Longhorns RL
2016Galway Tribesmen36–34Ballynahinch Rabbitohs
2017Longhorns RL46–6Belfast Met Scholars
2018Longhorns RLw/oBelfast Stags
2019Longhorns RL
2020Longhorns RL24–10Galway Tribesmen[9]
2021Galway Tribesmen[10]
Dublin City Exiles
2023Banbridge Broncos

Winners by club

Club No. Year(s)
182005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015
242017, 2018, 2019, 2020
33 2002, 2003, 2022
42 1997, 1999
2016, 2021
612023
2014
2008
2000
2004
2001
2012
1998

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314221649/http://rli.ie/news/history. 14 March 2016. Rugby League Ireland.
  2. Web site: List of RLI trophies . Rugby League Ireland . https://web.archive.org/web/20210126031300/https://www.rli.ie/content_page/10044369/ . 26 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Exiles Team For Grand Final . Rugby League Ireland . https://web.archive.org/web/20020927194233/http://www.rli.ie:80/Home.php?id=8341 . 27 September 2002.
  4. Web site: Exiles Make It Two In a Row . Rugby League Ireland . https://web.archive.org/web/20031014033139/http://www.rli.ie:80/Home.php?id=13428 . 14 October 2003.
  5. Web site: Dragons lose out on All Ireland crown in 11 try thriller . Rugby League Ireland . https://web.archive.org/web/20051122060218/http://www.rli.ie:80/Home.php?id=19289 . 22 November 2005.
  6. Web site: Titans make it Three in a row with final quarter burst . Rugby League Ireland . https://web.archive.org/web/20071118180959/http://www.rli.ie/news/article.php?Id=0152 . 18 November 2007.
  7. Web site: All Ireland Called Off . Rugby League Ireland . 9 July 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715172703/http://www.rli.ie/article/all-ireland-final-called-off.html . 15 July 2011.
  8. Web site: Barnhall Butchers Crowned All Ireland Champions .
  9. News: Longhorns take charge to see off Tribesmen . Galway Advertiser . 10 September 2020 . 28 May 2024.
  10. https://www.limerickleader.ie/gallery/home/659243/rugby-league-all-ireland-grand-final.html