The Professional Era

An overview by Patrick Lennon

The 1990s were a period of great change for rugby throughout the world. London Irish appointed Clive Woodward as Coach in 1995 and he was to play an important role in ensuring the club was positioned to stay among the upper echelons of the game when it went professional in August 1996.

Woodward’s squad included a wealth of Irish international players: Kieron Dawson, Gabriel Fulcher, Gary Halpin, Niall Hogan, David Humphreys, Ken O’Connell, Conor O’Shea and Niall Woods. They ensured the club retained its place in the Courage League when the first professional league started in 1996-97 season.

Another former England coach, Dick Best had a major impact in his three seasons in charge between 1998-99 and 2000-01. Among the players he recruited was another British and Irish Lion, Jeremy Davidson and the South Africa international, Brendan Venter.

Venter and Conor O’Shea, who had become Director of Rugby, led the club to victory over Northampton Saints in the Powergen Cup Final in April 2002 at Twickenham in front of 75,000 people. This was the first national trophy to be won at senior level by London Irish.

The professional era also forced the club to review its facilities. The grounds at Sunbury-on-Thames which had served the club so well were creaking with the advent of 6,000 plus attendances. The local authority would not consider granting permission for the development of a fully equipped stadium so London Irish had no choice but to find a venue where it could play its home matches.

After a season at The Stoop Memorial Ground in Twickenham, London Irish moved to the superb Madejski Stadium in Reading, home of Reading FC, for the start of the 2000-01 season. The club played its first home game in Reading on September 2nd 2000, a ‘London Derby’ with Saracens which Irish won 27-22 in front of 7, 312 supporters.

Over the past ten years a combination of the excellent facilities at Madejski Stadium, innovative marketing and entertaining rugby has enabled London Irish to grow its support base. Club and Premiership record attendances have been set and broken. The club achieved its first ‘sell out’ for a regular Guinness Premiership fixture on 16th March 2008 when 23,709 attended the famous St Patrick’s party match with London Wasps. The attendance is still the highest recorded by any Premier Rugby club at its home ground.

Encouraged by its success in making Madejski Stadium a ‘home from home’, the club entered into an agreement with Reading FC in 2008 that will see London Irish play its home matches at the stadium until 2025.

On the playing front the club has continued to progress. The introduction of an Academy for young players in 2002 has had a major impact with a steady stream of talented players coming through to the professional squad and going on to achieve full international honours.

The arrival of Brian Smith as Director of Rugby for the start of the 2005-06 season brought another step-up in playing terms. A talented squad that by then included Rugby World Cup winner, Mike Catt, produced consistent, attacking rugby that resulted in the club reaching the semi-finals of the Premiership and the final of the European Challenge Cup in 2006. While the club lost in both matches, narrowly in the latter, it achieved qualification for the Heineken Cup for the first time in four seasons.

The Heineken Cup, now firmly established as the leading club rugby tournament in Europe, provided a great platform for the club in the 2006-07 season. Although it failed to progress beyond the pool stage, the experience proved invaluable a year later when London Irish qualified for the second season in succession and reached the semi-final of the tournament, a wonderful match with the mighty Toulouse at Twickenham on 26th April 2008 which the French team won by 21-15.

The legacy of that performance inspired the club’s players and coaches and last season under the direction of Head Coach, Toby Booth and Attack Coach, Mike Catt, London Irish stepped-up again. The club finished third in the Guinness Premiership, thus qualifying for the semi-final where a victory over Harlequins brought a return to Twickenham for the final. In a competitive match played in front of a capacity crowd of 82,601, Irish captained by Bob Casey, lost by one point (10-9) to Leicester Tigers.

In 2008 London Irish announced that it intended to develop “a rugby centre of excellence” in the vicinity of its current Sunbury-on-Thames base that would accommodate all parts of the club - mini, youth, amateur, Academy and professional. Plans are progressing and a detailed planning application will be submitted shortly. A statement of confidence in the future that the club’s founding fathers would surely applaud.