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RLI Premiership

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RLI Premiership
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Rugby League Ireland season#RLI Premiership
SportRugby league
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
No. of teams5
CountryIreland Ireland
Most recent
champion(s)		Banbridge Broncos
(2023)
Most titlesTreaty City Titans (8 titles)
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toRLI Championship (via request)

The RLI Premiership is the top tier of domestic rugby league in Ireland founded in 1997.

The competition was founded as the "All-Ireland Challenge Cup", and has undergone many name changed in history having also been named the "All-Ireland League", "Irish Elite League", "All-Ireland Championship", and "All-Ireland Rugby League Championship" before being named its current title.

History

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The first domestic rugby league club in Ireland were the Dublin Blues. They were a club founded in 1989 by Brian Corrigan.

Following the formation of the Ireland national side in 1995 a league competition was mooted to aid further development. 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 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 surprise winners 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 two finals.

During this time, in 2006, the competition moved away from the provincial league system with national playoffs to pursue a single national league.

In 2010, 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.

Source:[1]

In 2015, only 56% of fixtures were completely, with a slight rise to 67% in 2016. Several clubs returned from hiatus in 2017 due to a financial boost caused by the national team qualifying for the 2017 World Cup.[2]

Current teams (2024)

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Club Location
Dublin City Exiles Republic of Ireland Dublin
Banbridge Broncos Northern Ireland Banbridge
Galway Tribesmen Republic of Ireland Galway
Longhorns RL Republic of Ireland Dublin
Cork Bulls Republic of Ireland Cork

List of finals

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List of finals
Year Winning team Score Losing team Ref.
1997 Dublin Blues – Tallaght Tigers [3]
1998 Northside Saints 48–24 Dublin Blues [3]
1999 Dublin Blues 24–18 Cork Bulls [3]
2000 Churchtown Warriors – [3]
2001 Cork Bulls 16–12 Dublin City Exiles [3]
2002 Dublin City Exiles 26–18 Dublin Blues [4]
2003 Dublin City Exiles 28–26 Dublin Blues [5]
2004 Clontarf Bulls 32–30 Dublin Blues [3]
2005 Treaty City Titans 36–30 Kildare Dragons [6]
2006 Treaty City Titans 24–10 Carlow Crusaders [3]
2007 Treaty City Titans 38–22 Carlow Crusaders [3][7]
2008 Carlow Crusaders 24–80 Treaty City Titans [3]
2009 Treaty City Titans 33–26 Carlow Crusaders [3]
2010 Treaty City Titans 52–24 Dublin City Exiles [3]
2011 Treaty City Titans w/o Carlow Crusaders [3][8]
2012 Country Cowboys 28–24 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs [3]
2013 Treaty City Titans 36–16 Dublin City Exiles [3]
2014 Barnhill Butchers 25–24 Treaty City Titans [3][9]
2015 Treaty City Titans 28–18 Longhorns RL [3]
2016 Galway Tribesmen 36–34 Ballynahinch Rabbitohs [3]
2017 Longhorns RL 46–60 Belfast Met Scholars [3]
2018 Longhorns RL w/o Belfast Stags [3]
2019 Longhorns RL –
2020 Longhorns RL 24–10 Galway Tribesmen [10]
2021 Galway Tribesmen – [11]
2022 Dublin City Exiles –
2023 Banbridge Broncos –

Winners by club

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# Club No. Year(s)
1 Treaty City Titans 8 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015
2 Longhorns RL 4 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
3 Dublin City Exiles 3 2002, 2003, 2022
4 Dublin Blues 2 1997, 1999
Galway Tribesmen 2016, 2021
6 Banbridge Broncos 1 2023
Barnhill Butchers 2014
Carlow Crusaders 2008
Churchtown Warriors 2000
Clontarf Bulls 2004
Cork Bulls 2001
Country Cowboys 2012
Northside Saints 1998

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "History". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Rugby League Ireland Plans for Expanded Domestic Season".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "List of RLI trophies". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Exiles Team For Grand Final". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 27 September 2002.
  5. ^ "Exiles Make It Two In a Row". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 14 October 2003.
  6. ^ "Dragons lose out on All Ireland crown in 11 try thriller". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 22 November 2005.
  7. ^ "Titans make it Three in a row with final quarter burst". Rugby League Ireland. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007.
  8. ^ "All Ireland Called Off". Rugby League Ireland. 9 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Barnhall Butchers Crowned All Ireland Champions".
  10. ^ "Longhorns take charge to see off Tribesmen". Galway Advertiser. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Rugby League All Ireland Grand Final". 26 August 2021.
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