Wonderful video from 1993 shows just how big club rugby once was in Ireland

Irish rugby may be in some pretty rude health, but the club game has suffered since professionalism.

As little as 15 years ago, Ireland’s stars were routinely lining out for the club powerhouses of Ireland like Shannon, Cork Con and Garryowen in between provincial duty, and it’s sadly become a victim of the growth Irish rugby has seen in recent years.

One of the most famous All-Ireland League finals in memory is the 1993 decider at Lansdowne Road when Young Munster beat St Mary’s 17-14 in front of a crowd of 20,000 people.

The Cookies’ win was well celebrated, and they even took an open top bus drive around Limerick on their homecoming, and the streets around the city were lined with people.

We’ve been digging through the archives and found this amazing video, which shows just how huge the win was in Limerick, and is a real reminder of how iconic the club scene once was.

Young Munster are one of this weekend’s four AIL semi-finalists, travelling to Dublin to face Lansdowne on the back pitch of the Aviva Stadium, while Terenure College host reigning champions Clontarf in the other last four game.

Unfortunately it’s unlikely we’ll witness scenes like this in the near future, but we’re crossing our fingers just in case.

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