The IFA Premiership – formerly the Irish Premier League, and before that the Irish Football League–and still known in popular parlance simply as the Irish League, is the national football league in Northern Ireland, and was historically the league for the whole of Ireland. Clubs in the league are semi-professional. It should not be confused with the League of Ireland, which is the football league for the Republic of Ireland.
The League is currently sponsored by Danske Bank, who took over from Carling after the end of the 2011–12 season. The league is currently marketed as the Danske Bank Premiership. It is run by the Irish Football Association (IFA). At the end of the season, the champion club is presented with the Gibson Cup – on 28 April 2012 it was awarded to Linfield, the current holders.
Read more about Irish Premier League: History, League Format, UEFA Coefficient and Ranking, 2008 Reorganisation, Premiership Members For 2012–13, History and Trivia, Relegation and Promotion History
Famous quotes containing the words irish and/or league:
“We Irish are too poetical to be poets; we are a nation of brilliant failures, but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward the Light Brigade!”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)