The top level of competition in the Irish rugby union system is the Pro12 (currently known for sponsorship purposes as the RaboDirect Pro12), a league of professional teams originally from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales that expanded to include two Italian teams in the 2010–11 season. Ireland currently has four entries in the RaboDirect Pro12.
Ireland also has a domestic competition the All Ireland League and Provincial Leagues run by the different provincial branches of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
Read more about Irish Rugby Union System: RaboDirect Pro12, All Ireland League, Provincial Leagues
Famous quotes containing the words irish, union and/or system:
“The rule for hospitality and Irish “help,” is, to have the same dinner every day throughout the year. At last, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy learns to cook it to a nicety, the host learns to carve it, and the guests are well served.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We are constantly thinking of the great war ... which saved the Union ... but it was a war that did a great deal more than that. It created in this country what had never existed before—a national consciousness. It was not the salvation of the Union, it was the rebirth of the Union.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Fear, coercion, punishment, are the masculine remedies for moral weakness, but statistics show their failure for centuries. Why not change the system and try the education of the moral and intellectual faculties, cheerful surroundings, inspiring influences? Everything in our present system tends to lower the physical vitality, the self-respect, the moral tone, and to harden instead of reforming the criminal.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)