London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club, also known as London Irish Wild Geese, is an amateur

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club based in

Sunbury-on-Thames Sunbury-on-Thames (or commonly Sunbury) is a suburban town on the north bank of the River Thames in the Borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, centred southwest of central London. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, in 1965 Sunbury and other ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. W ...

, who play their rugby in Regional 2 Thames – a league at tier 6 of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England cons ...

– following their relegation from

London & South East Premier Regional 1 South East (up until 2022-23 known as London & South East Premier and up until 2016-17 known as National League 3 London & South East) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. ...

at the end of the 2019–20 season. They are the amateur team of

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

and play at Hazelwood.

History

The creation of London Irish Amateur was first discussed in 1995 when rugby union became professional and London Irish set aside resources for the creation of an amateur team. The club was founded in September 1999 after London Irish left

The Avenue The Avenue was a rugby union stadium and training pitches in Sunbury-on-Thames that belonged to the English club London Irish since 1931 when the team bought its . The team moved one season to the Stoop Memorial Ground thereafter to Madjeski ...

to play at the

Twickenham Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

before moving to

Madejski Stadium The Madejski Stadium (currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Reading. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in the EFL Championship. It also provides the finish for the R ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...

the following year. It was formed to be the

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

for senior and junior amateur players to then go on to play for

, who until the end of the 2015–16 season played in the English Premiership. A few players such as Justin Bishop and Kieran Campbell went on to play international rugby. London Irish and London Irish Amateur jointly share the new Hazelwood rugby complex. Since 2012, links between London Irish and London Irish Amateur have been upgraded with the two becoming part of a joint venture in which London Irish Amateur players play for London Irish in the A League. In return, members of London Irish's Academy are entitled to play for London Irish Amateur. The first team's official name was changed to London Irish Wild Geese after the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It prom ...

's governance committee gave consent for the change of name. In 2011, they were promoted from London 1 into

National League 3 London & SE Regional 1 South East (up until 2022-23 known as London & South East Premier and up until 2016-17 known as National League 3 London & South East) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. ...

. In 2012, they were moved into

National League 3 South West Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

,. In 2013, they were promoted into National League 2 South. London Irish Amateur receives a grant from the

Irish Government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The govern ...

's Emigrant Support Programme to support Mini Rugby.

Honours

Surrey 1 Surrey 1 is a level 9 English Rugby Union League. It is made up of teams predominantly from Surrey and south-west London. Teams play home and away matches from September through to April. Promoted teams move up to London 3 South West with the l ...

champions: 2001–02 * London 2 (south-east v south-west) promotion play-off winner: 2005–06 * London Division 2 South West champions: 2009–10 *

Surrey Trophy The Surrey Trophy is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Surrey Rugby Football Union. It was introduced in 2009 and the inaugural winners were London Irish Wild Geese. It is the second most important rugby union c ...

winners (2): 2010, 2011 * London 1 (north v south) promotion play-off winner: 2010–11 * National League 3 South-West champions: 2012–13 *

Surrey Cup The Surrey Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organized by the Surrey Rugby Football Union. The original cup competition was first played for back in 1890, the inaugural winners being Lennox, but was discontinued in 1909 ...

winners: 2013 *

champions: 2015–16

Coaching staff

* Chair of Men's Rugby: Joe Byrne * Manager: Trevor Johnson * Head Coach: Ryan Gregory * Forwards Coach: Matt Cornish * Defence Coach: Hugh O'Sullivan * Strength and Conditioning: Willie Lafolafo

References

External links

Official Site
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams London Irish Rugby union clubs in Surrey Rugby clubs established in 1999 Irish diaspora sports clubs in the United Kingdom 1999 establishments in England Rugby union clubs in London

History

Honours

Coaching staff

See also

References

External links