The All-Ireland Rugby League Championship was first played for in 1997 under the title All-Ireland Challenge Cup. Since then it has also been known as the All-Ireland League, Elite League and the All-Ireland Championship. It is a rugby league competition involving teams from Ireland. At one point it was called the McGettigans All-Ireland League for sponsorship reasons[1])
The first domestic rugby league club in Ireland were the Dublin Blues. They were a club founded in 1989 by Brian Corrigan[2]
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 and so far last 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 a surprise winner 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 three finals.
During this time as the sport grew the league changed from regional leagues Leinster and Munster into a top division Elite League underpinned by local leagues.
By 2010 regional leagues were brought back followed by a series of play-offs. On 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
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This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources All Ireland Rugby League Championship news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2018 Learn how and when to remove this message The All Ireland Rugby League Championship was first played for in 1997 under the title All Ireland Challenge Cup Since then it has also been known as the All Ireland League Elite League and the All Ireland Championship It is a rugby league competition involving teams from Ireland At one point it was called the McGettigans All Ireland League for sponsorship reasons 1 All Ireland Rugby League ChampionshipFounded1997Number of teams7Level on pyramid1Current championsBanbridge Broncos 1 title Most championshipsTreaty City Titans 8 titles Contents 1 History 1 1 RLI Mens Premiership 1 2 RLI Mens Championship 1 3 RLI Womens Premiership 2 Past winners 3 Women s competition 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory editThe first domestic rugby league club in Ireland were the Dublin Blues They were a club founded in 1989 by Brian Corrigan 2 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 and so far last 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 a surprise winner 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 three finals During this time as the sport grew the league changed from regional leagues Leinster and Munster into a top division Elite League underpinned by local leagues By 2010 regional leagues were brought back followed by a series of play offs On 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 3 Current clubs 2023 4 RLI Mens Premiership edit Club City Athboy Fighting Irish Athboy Dublin City Exiles Dublin Galway Tribesmen Galway Longhorns RL Navan RLI Mens Championship edit Club City Cork Bulls Cork Dublin City Exiles II Dublin Banbridge Broncos Banbridge RLI Womens Premiership edit Club City Galway Tribeswomen Galway Dublin City Exiles DublinPast winners edit1997 Dublin Blues Rugby League 5 1998 Northside Saints 1999 Dublin Blues Rugby League 2000 Churchtown Warriors 2001 Cork Bulls 2002 Dublin City Exiles 2003 Dublin City Exiles 2004 Clontarf Bulls 2005 Treaty City Titans 2006 Treaty City Titans 2007 Treaty City Titans 2008 Carlow Crusaders 6 2009 Treaty City Titans 2010 Treaty City Titans 2011 Treaty City Titans 2012 Country Cowboys 2013 Treaty City Titans 2014 Barnhall Butchers 2015 Treaty City Titans 2016 Galway Tribesmen 2017 Longhorns RL 2018 Longhorns RL 2019 Longhorns RL 2020 Longhorns RL 2021 Galway Tribesmen 2022 Dublin City Exiles 2023 Banbridge BroncosWomen s competition editWinners 2021 Dublin City Exiles 2022 Dublin City ExilesSee also edit nbsp Sports portal nbsp Ireland portal Rugby league in Ireland List of rugby league competitionsReferences edit McGettigan s picks up tab for Rugby League Ireland SportBusiness Sponsorship 20 April 2015 https web archive org web 20010128160100 http www rli ie history html Rugby League Ireland Archived from the original on 2006 05 08 https www rli ie fixtures 2 https web archive org web 20100124152733 http rli ie history https web archive org web 20100124152733 http rli ie historyExternal links editOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title All Ireland Rugby League Championship amp oldid 1221696415, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
