At a meeting of the Leinster Branch Competitions Committee a number of decisions were taken that will impact on leagues and cups in 2009/10…

*Leinster League

• IT Carlow and North Meath rugby clubs have both applied to join the Leinster League. The Competitions Committee has approved their applications and they will both play in Div 3 in 2009-10.
• As a result two clubs in Div 3, Athy and Longford, are being invited to play in Div 2 next season, which will increase the numbers in this league to ten teams playing each other home and away.
• It has been recommended (but not yet endorsed) that West Offaly Lions, based in Ferbane and currently affiliated to Connacht, should play in Leinster next season. If this happens they will play in Div 3. The knock on effect will see Rathdrum invited to play in Div 2 (from Div 3) and Mullingar will be invited to play in Div 1 (from Div 2).
• It was also confirmed that Div 3 will operate on the originally proposed “Super Six” system with one slight variation: there will be two groups of six teams in Phase 1 with all teams playing each other once; in Phase 2 the top three teams in both groups will now form a new Section “A” while the bottom three teams will form Section “B”. The variation from the original proposal will be that no results will be carried forward from Phase 1 i.e. each team will play the other five teams home and away in Phase 2.

• Promotion and relegation between the divisions will be as follows: 

A. Without West Offaly Lions – Premier Div (8 teams), Div 1 (8), Div 2 (10) and Div 3 (12)
Premier and Div 1 – bottom team relegated from Premier to Div 1 and winner of Div 1 promoted to Premier; playoff between the second last team in Premier and runner up in Div 1 with the winner playing in Premier and loser in Div 1 (playoff will be at neutral venue)
Div 1 and Div 2 – bottom team relegated from Div 1 to Div 2 and winner of Div 2 promoted to Div 1; playoff between the second last team in Div 1 and runner up in Div 2 with the winner playing in Div 1 and loser in Div 2 (playoff will be at neutral venue)
Div 2 and Div 3 – the bottom two teams in Div 2 will be relegated into Div and the top two teams in Div 3 will be promoted into Div 2
B. Including West Offaly Lions – Premier Div (8 teams), Div 1 (9), Div 2 (10) and Div 3 (12)
The bottom two teams in Premier, Div 1 and Div 2 will be relegated into Div 1, Div 2 and Div 3 respectively; the top two teams in Div 1, Div 2 and Div 3 will be promoted into Premier, Div 1 and Div 2 respectively.
C. If a team is relegated from the AIB League
That team will play in Premier Div which will consist of nine teams for that season; the numbers will be adjusted back to eight teams the following season. 

* Leinster Senior League Cup
In order to provide more meaningful games ahead of the AIB League it was decided to restructure the Leinster Senior League Cup. There will still be five sections comprising four teams in each section, the difference will be in the composition of the sections and the method employed in qualifying for the quarter finals.
• The sections will be based on AIB League finishing positions last season with the top 12 teams playing in Sections A, B and C and the remaining eight teams playing in Sections D and E.
• The top two teams in Sections A, B and C will qualify for the quarter finals along with the winners of Sections D and E.
• Seapoint and Boyne (2nd and 3rd in the Leinster League Div 1) were confirmed as the Junior clubs that will play in the Leinster Senior League Cup in 2008-09 while Navan has replaced Skerries as one of the 18 Senior clubs.

*Replacements and Substitutes

• There will five replacements/substitutes allowed in all competitions forthwith except in the J4 League where there are six, and underage where there are seven
• The rolling subs ELV, allowing up to 12 substitutions in a game, which was trialled in limited competitions last season will be introduced from J2 level down as well as for JP Fanagan Pennant and Gale Cup

*J3 Metro League 

• This league will now be played on Friday evenings with a 7:30pm kick off; in the event of the home club not having floodlights the game will revert to its traditional Sunday afternoon slot. The same will apply if there is a problem with pitch availability unless the away team can take the fixture

*J4 Metro League 

• In order to avoid some of the serious mismatches that have occurred at this level in recent seasons it has been decided to operate a merit-based J4 League using last season’s results as the starting point
• A J5 League will be created to facilitate clubs entering a second J4 team as well as accommodating the weaker teams in the J4 League
• Where teams opt for uncontested scrums in the J4 and J5 Leagues back row moves will not be allowed from uncontested scrums

*AIB Junior Cup

It was confirmed that the four Leinster teams to play in the AIB Junior Cup in 2009-10 are the teams that finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Leinster league Div 1 last season. They are
• Seapoint
• Boyne
• Cill Dara
• Tullamore (holders) 

*Leinster League Premier Division 
• Seapoint
• Boyne
• Cill Dara
• Tullamore
• Monkstown
• Skerries
• Dundalk
• Portlaoise 

* Leinster League Div 1
• Tullow
• Garda
• Enniscorthy
• Wicklow
• Newbridge
• Coolmine
• New Ross
• Kilkenny

*Leinster League Div 2
• Mullingar
• Portarlington
• Ashbourne
• Clane
• Clondalkin
• Roscrea
• Gorey
• North Kildare
• Athy
• Longford

*Leinster League Div 3
• Rathdrum
• Arklow
• Edenderry
• Railway Union
• Balbriggan
• Wexford Wanderers
• Malahide
• CYM
• Birr
• Swords
• IT Carlow
• North Meath

*Above divisions are without West Offaly Lions