Magners League
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| Magners League | |
|---|---|
| Current season or competition: 2007-08 Magners League |
|
 |
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| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 2001 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country(ies) |  Ireland Scotland Wales |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Leinster |
The Magners League is an annual rugby union competition involving regional sides from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is one of the three major leagues in Europe, along with the English Guinness Premiership and the French Top 14. The league champion is currently determined solely from league performance, however from the 2009-10 season, it is intended to introduce a play-off structure, similar to the Guinness Premiership.[1]. It was originally known as The Celtic League (Welsh: Y Gynghrair Geltaidd[2]) The Magners League season takes place between September and May, with each team playing every other team on a home and away basis. Magners League matches avoid the traditional international weekends in November and during the Six Nations Championship. The Welsh, Irish and Scottish rugby unions now use the Magners League as the sole determinant for European qualification.
Contents |
[edit] Other nations
Talks have been held intermittently with both Italy[3] [4] and South Africa[5] about the possible expansion of the Magners League. A Rainbow Cup involving South African and Italian teams was announced in 2005, [6] but following changes in the membership of the South African Rugby Union the idea was abandoned without a ball kicked. In the medium term, it is expected that the competition will continue to consist of the three Celtic unions.
London Welsh have in the past expressed an interest in joining the Magners League if promotion/relegation were to be removed from the premiership in England.[7] Likewise the SRU in 2007 expressed an interest in setting up a Scottish club in London, to play as the third Scottish team in the Magners League.[8]
[edit] Media coverage
Magners League matches get shown live on BBC Two Wales, Setanta Sports 1, Setanta Ireland and also the Welsh channel S4C. The BBC Two Wales matches are usually made available to the rest of the UK via BBCi. Sporadic coverage of the tournament can be found in other territories - mainly on Canal Plus in France, and on various Setanta Sports channels around the globe.
[edit] 2007-08 Teams
| Team | Stadium (& Capacity) | City/Area |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff Blues |
Cardiff Arms Park (13,500) & Millennium Stadium (74,500) | Cardiff, Wales |
| Connacht |
Galway Sportsgrounds (7,000) | Galway, Connacht, Ireland |
| Edinburgh |
Murrayfield Stadium (67,800[9]) | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Glasgow Warriors |
Firhill (10,887) | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Leinster |
RDS (18,000) | Dublin, Leinster, Ireland |
| Llanelli Scarlets |
Stradey Park (11,000) & Racecourse Ground (15,500) | Llanelli / Wrexham, Wales |
| Munster |
Musgrave Park (8,000) & Thomond Park (18,000[10]) | Cork / Limerick, Munster, Ireland |
| Newport Gwent Dragons |
Rodney Parade (12,000) | Newport, Wales |
| Ospreys |
Liberty Stadium (20,500) | Swansea, Wales |
| Ulster |
Ravenhill Stadium (12,800) | Belfast, Ulster, Northern Ireland |
[edit] Former Teams
| Team | Years | Stadia and capacity | City/Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Border Reivers |
2002-2007 | Netherdale, 6000 | Galashiels, Scotland |
| Celtic Warriors |
2003-2004 | Brewery Field, 12000 and Sardis Road, 8000 | Bridgend and Pontypridd, Wales |
[edit] History
Wales and Scotland had joined forces for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, with the expansion of the Welsh Premier Division to include Edinburgh and Glasgow under the name Welsh-Scottish League.
In 2001 an agreement was made between the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to create a new competition which would bring in the four Irish provinces. 2001 would see the very first incarnation of the Celtic League.
Some saw the competition as the forerunner of a British / Irish league with teams from England also taking part. The WRU had previously negotiated with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to form an Anglo-Welsh league but negotiations had broken down over how many teams from each union would take part.
[edit] 2001-02
The first season would see fifteen teams compete: the four Irish provinces (Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster), two Scottish teams (Edinburgh Reivers and Glasgow) and all nine Welsh Premier Division teams (Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Ebbw Vale, Llanelli, Neath, Newport, Pontypridd and Swansea).
Played alongside each country's own national competitions, the teams were split into two groups (of 8 and 7) and played a series of round-robin matches with each team playing the other only once. The top four teams from each group proceeded into the knock-out phase until a champion was found. Clashes between teams in the Welsh-Scottish League also counted towards the new competition.
The 2001/2002 competition was dominated by the Irish teams with all four sides reaching the last eight, three progressing to the semi-finals, and the thrilling final played at Lansdowne Road contested between Leinster and Munster with the Dublin-based Leinster running out 24-20 winners.
[edit] 2002-03
The demands of the Celtic league led to the Scottish / Welsh league being abandoned in 2002. The Irish inter provincial championship was also downgraded.
The second (2002/03) season's format was identical except for the addition of a third Scottish side, the newly re-established Scottish Borders.
Surprisingly, the champions Leinster failed to make the quarter-final stage in 2003. In their absence, Munster went on to easily win the competition by beating Connacht (QF 33-3), Ulster (SF 42-10), and Neath in the final by 37 points to 17. The final of 2003 was played in Cardiff.
[edit] 2003-04
A major change in Celtic League philosophy came during the early part of 2003, partly due to the commercial success of the league itself but mostly because of the Welsh Regional Rugby's financial constraints that left Wales with only five fully professional clubs. It was decided that the Celtic League would become the sole professional league of the three countries, incorporating all four Irish, three Scottish and the five new Welsh (Cardiff Blues, Celtic Warriors, Llanelli Scarlets, Neath-Swansea Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons).
Reformatted into a traditional league competition (round-robin style, all clubs play each other twice, once home, once away), which meant that a season long 22-round match program was launched, and with a new strength in depth due to the amalgamation of Welsh teams and the continuing strengthening of Irish and Scottish teams through the re-signing and retention of star players, the league has been in rugby terms a success. Also introduced for the 2003/04 season was the Celtic Cup, a straight knock-out cup competition between the 12 Celtic League teams.
However the unfortunate timing of the league's launch and poor organisation of a working calendar meant that first the 2003 Rugby World Cup and later the RBS Six Nations Championship prevented many of the league's top stars from playing in over half the games. This meant that commercially the league has struggled, especially regarding the newly adopted regions in Wales where the game has always traditionally been played on a club basis, not having the regional histories of Ireland or Scotland. The season ended with the Llanelli Scarlets running out as eventual winners, four points ahead of Ulster.
[edit] 2004-05
The league format was further refined at the end of the 2003/04 season, with the participants deciding to better manage the dates of the matches so as to not interfere with the national squad set-ups and to make the league more commercially viable. The league was played until April and then the Celtic Cup competition was contested amongst the top eight teams of the league.
However even the prospect of the improved league structure wasn't enough to keep all the competitors viable with the liquidation of the Celtic Warriors region by the WRU, which meant that starting in 2004/05, Wales would have only four entrants in a league of eleven teams.
The new format took the league into what many saw as a make-or-break season, clear of massive distractions such as the Rugby World Cup. With the Welsh regions partly embedded, the signs were that the Celtic League would be a competition that could continue for many years to come.
The 2004/5 season was the first season that Ireland agreed to use the Celtic League standings to determine which provinces would enter the Heineken Cup. The IRFU had always previously classed Connacht as a "development" team and so nominated Leinster, Munster and Ulster over Connacht - fearing the loss of revenue from one of the "big three" teams failing to qualify for the Heineken European Cup. The IRFU also insisted on International team squad training sessions taking precedence over Celtic League matches - a consequence of this was that Irish provinces (especially Munster and Leinster) often fielded virtual second teams for Celtic League games. This had the effect of devaluing the competition - however despite this apparent half-hearted approach Irish teams finished second (Munster) and third (Leinster) in the league as well as winning the Celtic Cup (Munster). The Ospreys were crowned eventual champions making it two in a row for Welsh Regional sides.
There was an announcement that a 'Rainbow Cup' would replace the Celtic Cup with 4 Italian sides and 9 South African provincial sides alongside the Celtic League sides. It was also suggested that Italian sides might join an expanded Celtic League - this proved however to be merely a publicity "bubble".
[edit] 2005-06
In 2005, there were discussions over a potential Anglo-Welsh cup competition which some saw as undermining the Celtic League. Despite Welsh assurances that the proposed Anglo-Welsh tournament would not interfere with their commitments to either the Celtic League in its present format or an expanded 'Rainbow League', the SRU and IRFU claimed that the WRU had made arrangements to play games on five weekends without regard to Celtic League fixtures. The SRU and IRFU purported to expel the Welsh sides from the Celtic League in June 2005. It was proposed that the competition would continue as a Scottish and Irish affair for the 2005/6 season, with the possible addition of 4 Italian sides and the re-admittance of Welsh sides for the 2006/7 season. A deal was then reached that allowed for the Celtic League to continue with the Welsh sides readmitted, with some fixtures involving Welsh clubs restructured to accommodate the Anglo-Welsh cup.
Despite these problems, the league enjoyed its most successful season, with the record attendance at a Celtic League match being broken 4 times from 12,436 at the Cardiff Blues Vs. Newport Gwent Dragons match in December to 15,327 for the Cardiff Blues Vs. Leinster match at the Millennium Stadium. The total attendances for the season were up nearly 50,000 at 571,331 compared to 521,449 for the previous season.
The league went down to the last round with Ulster and Leinster both in contention. Following Leinster's victory over Edinburgh and with Ulster losing against the Ospreys, it looked like the cup would go to Dublin but David Humphreys kicked a last minute 40 metre drop goal to clinch the game and the league for Ulster.
[edit] 2006-07
In May 2006 Magners Irish Cider announced that it would become the title sponsor for the next five seasons, thus the league will now become the 'Magners League'. Although in the Republic of Ireland, the brand is known as Bulmers Irish Cider, the Magners name is still used there for the league.[11] The sponsorship follows on existing Magners' existing presence in rugby union with sponsorship deals with Edinburgh and the London Wasps.
The Scottish Rugby Union announced that the Borders territory would be disbanded from the end of the 2006-07 season. And that it will be reopened when the Scottish Rugby Union debt decreases and it is financial suitable to reopen the territory along with a possible fourth Scottish territory (Four professional teams being the original plan for the SRU) with Falkirk, Stirling or a London based team being possible locations; or even the Caledonain Reds the forgotten Scottish Region being reopened. But for the meantime Scotland would have only two professional teams based in Edinburgh and Glasgow.[12]
The league was won by the Ospreys on the final day of fixtures. The Blue's home win over Leinster allowed the Ospreys to top the league by a single point and take the title with an away win at Borders.
The league's record attendance was smashed in this season with a full house at Lansdowne Road (48,000) for Ulster vs. Leinster. This was the last game in the stadium prior to its demolition, and was billed as "The Last Stand".
[edit] 2007-08
Only ten teams will compete in the 2007-08 season, after the Borders were disbanded at the end of the 2006-07 season. Glasgow Warriors will play their home games at Firhill. [13] Leinster won the 2007-08 title with one game remaining to be played.[14]
[edit] Previous results
| Celtic League | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Teams | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 2001/02 | 15 | Leinster |
Munster |
| 2002/03 | 16 | Munster |
Neath |
| 2003/04 | 12 | Llanelli Scarlets |
Ulster |
| 2004/05 | 11 | Ospreys |
Munster |
| 2005/06 | 11 | Ulster |
Leinster |
| 2006/07 | 11 | Ospreys |
Cardiff Blues |
| 2007/08 | 10 | Leinster |
Cardiff Blues |
| Celtic Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Teams | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 2003/04 | 12 | Ulster |
Edinburgh |
| 2004/05 | 8 | Munster |
Llanelli Scarlets |
[edit] Statistics
- Most points scored by a player in 1 season: 276 (Felipe Contepomi, Leinster, 2005-2006)
- Most tries scored by a player in 1 season: 12 (Jamie Robinson, Cardiff Blues, 2003-2004 & Kevin Morgan, Newport Gwent Dragons, 2004-2005)
- Highest attendance at Celtic League match: 48,000 (Leinster vs. Ulster, Lansdowne Road, 31 December 2006)
[edit] Play-Offs
Many rugby union club competitions culminate in a play-off series to determine the champion, including the Super 14 and the Guinness Premiership. Currently the Celtic Legaue does not use this format, and champions are decided by the final league table.
In April of 2008 Celtic Rugby announced that play offs may be introduced in 09/10 season of the Magners League. This would possibily consist of the top four clubs of the league entering into a semi final with the winners progressing onto a grand final to determine its champion. Debates continue for and against the proposal, which echo similar arguments that preceded the introduction of similar play-offs in the Guinness Premiership.
Any future proposals may depend on the outcome of the negotiations on the future of the EDF Energy Anglo-Welsh Cup which current format runs out in 2009.
[edit] International Media Coverage
In Australia, Canada, and the United States, Setanta Sports cover the Magners League.
[edit] See also
- Heineken Cup
- European Challenge Cup
- Welsh Premier Division
- Anglo-Welsh Cup
- Sports league attendances
[edit] References
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7341673.stm
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/chwaraeon/safle/rygbi_rhanbarthol/pages/canlyniadau_celtaidd.shtml
- ^ http://talkingrugbyballs.welshblogs.co.uk/2008/02/italian_celts_non_starter.html
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20061217/ai_n16899777
- ^ http://www.talkrugbyunion.co.uk/guides/rugby_union_organisations.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/4533261.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/6199419.stm
- ^ http://www.planetrugby.com/Story/0,18259,3551_3569284,00.html
- ^ Although Murrayfield's full capacity is 67,800, only the lower section of the West Stand, with a capacity of 12,464, is generally opened for Edinburgh fixtures.
- ^ Currently being rebuilt, but remains open. When work is complete in autumn 2008, capacity will be 26,000.
- ^ Magners ends drought by sponsoring Celtic League. timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
- ^ Edinburgh hit out at Borders loss. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
- ^ Magners League Official Website : Warriors look to create fortress at Firhill
- ^ http://www.magnersleague.com/2056_2639.php
[edit] External links
- Magners League (official site)
- Celtic League news from Planet Rugby
- Proposed rainbow cup
- Welsh clubs expelled
- Agreement for new Celtic League
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