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The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs.
Lansdowne Road Stadium was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on the same site, which opened in 2010.
Neil Antony Back MBE is a former international rugby union footballer for England and the British & Irish Lions who also played for Nottingham RFC, Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his career.
Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht Branch, which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union throughout the geographical Irish province of Connacht.
Rugby union in Ireland is a very popular team sport. Rugby union is organised on an all-Ireland basis with one national team, governing body and league for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Founded in 1879, the Irish Rugby Football Union is the third-oldest rugby union after England and Scotland, and was formed two years prior to the Welsh Rugby Union.
Alfred Ronald Dawson played hooker for Ireland. He was captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
John Sydney Millar is a former rugby union prop from Northern Ireland who played international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coach and later a rugby administrator. He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995, and from 2003 until 2007 was the chairman of the International Rugby Board.
Larne Grammar School is a co-educational voluntary grammar school located in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1886 by Sir Edward Coey and John Crawford, it has around 760 pupils and 50 teaching staff.
Bruff Rugby Union Football Club, a rugby union club, playing in Division 2C of the All-Ireland League. The club plays at home in Kilballyowen Park, near the town of Bruff, in County Limerick, Ireland. Currently (2017/18) they field 16 rugby teams at the club including 3 men's adult squads, girls' youth, minis and boys' youth rugby teams ranging in age from under-7 to under-18.
Nigel Owens, is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He currently holds the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international referees listed as professional within the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans, Adam Jones, Dan Jones, and Ben Whitehouse.
Monkstown Football Club is an Irish rugby club based in Dublin, playing in Division 1A of the Leinster League.
David McHugh is a former Irish rugby union referee. McHugh refereed matches at the 1995, 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups. In 1996 McHugh refereed the inaugural Heineken Cup final. He would also referee the 2001 final, making him the first referee to take charge of two European Rugby Champions Cup finals. He also refereed in the Celtic League, the Six Nations Championship and the Tri Nations. In 2002, while refereeing a Tri Nations match between South Africa and New Zealand, McHugh was assaulted by a South African fan. After retiring as a referee in 2004, McHugh worked as a referee performance officer and then manager for the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Philip Andrew Orr is a former Irish international and British and Irish Lions Rugby Union loosehead prop.
The Irish Exiles is a rugby union representative team featuring players selected from the Irish diaspora, mainly though not exclusively based in Great Britain. The team was established in 1989 by Tom Kiernan. It was officially recognised by the Irish Rugby Football Union and during the 1990s was effectively a fifth provincial team along with Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. Between 1992 and 1993 and 1995–96 the Irish Exiles entered the IRFU Interprovincial Championship. The Irish Exiles also acts as an academy system for players from the Irish diaspora who wish to play for the men's national team and other IRFU national teams including the women's national team, the men's sevens team and the women's sevens team.
David Humphreys MBE is an Irish retired rugby union player. He played 72 times for Ireland, scoring 560 points, including 6 tries, and at the time of his international retirement was Ireland's most capped outhalf. He played his club rugby for Ulster, captaining Ulster to victory in the 1998-99 Heineken Cup.
James Mathieson Fleming MBE is a retired Scottish Rugby Union Referee who refereed 42 major international matches and was a touch judge in a further 75. The international matches that he controlled were between 1985 and 2001 and included matches in four Rugby World Cups.
John Paul "JP" Doyle is an Irish rugby union referee. Doyle was one of ten full-time rugby union referees employed by the English Rugby Football Union until his redundancy in August 2020. In 2021, he was a referee in Major League Rugby (MLR) in the United States. In 2022, he was named high performance referee coach by Scottish Rugby Union.
John Lacey is a former Ireland A and Ireland Sevens rugby union international and current rugby union referee. As a player, Lacey spent most of career with Shannon in the All-Ireland League. He also represented Munster. As an international referee he has taken charge of matches in the Six Nations Championship, the Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup. He also refereed the 2013 Pro12 Grand Final and the 2015–16 and 2016–17 European Rugby Challenge Cup finals.
Andrew Brace is a former rugby union player and current referee. As an international player for Belgium, Brace currently represents the Irish Rugby Football Union as a referee. Brace has refereed matches in the Pro14, the European Rugby Challenge Cup and the European Rugby Champions Cup. In 2017 he began refereeing test matches.
Joy Neville is a former Ireland women's rugby union international and a current rugby union referee. As a player Neville represented Ireland at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2009 Neville captained the first Ireland team to defeat France. In 2013 she was also a member of the first Ireland women's team to win the Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles.
References
- ↑ ESPN Scrum biography of Hilditch
- ↑ "Stephen R. Hilditc hMBE". Irish Rugby Football Union . Retrieved 6 February 2018.