Why Celtic Challenge may not be an appealing enough competition for Ireland players

When Aoife Wafer made her Harlequins debut before Christmas, a hero’s welcome accompanied her introduction from the bench against Sale.

Wafer, recognised as Ireland’s dominant forward for well over a year now, is used to crowd adulation when playing for her country. Yet not at domestic level. This reception at a club game was different. Of course, in today’s day and age, the moment was crystallised into a social media clip.

Compare this to what would have awaited Wafer had she still been on an Ireland contract, playing for the Wolfhounds in their most recent match on Irish soil. To be fair to those who frequented Creggs Rugby Club in the west of the country, the main stand at the amateur club ground was well populated. Not that this was easy to see. The game was largely broadcast by a pitch side camera which was regularly blocked by players on the pitch. Not conducive to viral moments.

Rack your brain for recent high profile mentions of Irish rugby. Wafer’s PWR bow is one. Erin King’s recent appointment to the Ireland captaincy another. In all honesty, none would come from the Celtic Challenge, the domestic competition where Ireland’s non-PWR players have quietly been plying their trade.

This comparison isn’t fair. We’re not pairing apples with apples. The PWR is a well-developed competition. There is a history with fanbases built up over time. The Celtic Challenge, contested by Irish, Scottish and Welsh teams, does not have the same weight of history or investment. In Ireland’s case, the Clovers and Wolfhounds lack brand awareness.

Even with that caveat, though, players such as Wafer appear to be making their feelings clear. In her own words, she took a “big” pay cut to give up her IRFU contract in favour of a higher standard of competition and a university education at St Mary’s in Twickenham. Be it implicit or explicit, a message has been sent. A smaller pay cheque but the guarantee of regular games of a higher standard combined with education is clearly more appealing than Ireland’s domestic product.

It’s not just Wafer. There are signs throughout the game that players are not in love with the Celtic Challenge. The resulting question focuses on the IRFU’s ability to take heed. Players are their most important stakeholders, after all.

When the IRFU announced its list of contracted players for this season, a number of names were missing. World Cup squad members Linda Djougang, Siobhán McCarthy, Meabh Deely and Claire Boles were not included. The majority are still of interest to Irish selectors, but they decided to combine rugby with careers or education.

Most of these players have still lined out in this year’s Celtic Challenge. Some have played in games in Ireland but not abroad. By not taking up a contract, there is the flexibility to pick and chose depending on individual circumstances.

Below the Celtic Challenge is the All-Ireland League (AIL), the amateur club competition which used to be the main source of game time for Ireland internationals not playing in England. One AIL coach has said that two of their players turned down Celtic Challenge call-ups in favour of playing club rugby. When this was put to a coach of a different club, they said “We’ve more than that in our squad alone.”

Everyone has different priorities, but surely the idea was never for clubs to be more appealing than IRFU teams?

It’s not just player action that paints this picture. In a recent interview with The Irish Independent, Ireland fullback Stacey Flood spoke of her internal battle with what to prioritise next in her career now that the north star of an Olympics or World Cup isn’t immediately on the horizon.

“It makes me feel a bit uneasy because I feel like I don’t know what my plan is,” she said. “I’m so uncertain and I don’t really know where I stand on things in life. I love playing for Ireland. I want to play in the Six Nations. But I’m just like, when do you stop? When do you come out of the cycle? Do you go another four years?”

It should be said that Flood is on an Ireland contract and has played for the Wolfhounds since the World Cup. There was no indication that she was speaking out against the Celtic Challenge. Ireland will always be the pinnacle, but there is clearly a gap in appeal between national and domestic, the size of which is unsustainable.

The IRFU appears aware of this. As things stand, their plan is to replace the Clovers and Wolfhounds with four provinces, akin to the men’s game. The target is to introduce Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht into the Celtic Challenge next season. Perhaps the pull of the home province will appeal more to both players and paying punters.

There are hurdles to be overcome with this system, the biggest being cost. The IRFU has made clear that their roughly €9 million investment into its women’s programme won’t increase. The provinces don’t have much spare change lying around either. The cost of essentially doubling their workforce, while also finding the training and playing space for another professional outfit, will prove challenging to Leinster et al.

Lynne Cantwell, the former Ireland international and recent World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee, is the IRFU’s head of women’s strategy. Lobbying the government to help with funding has been part of her remit. She has acknowledged that next season’s timeline might be difficult, with the 2027/28 campaign also floated as a potential provincial starting point.

Building a professional domestic system essentially from scratch is never easy. Particularly with the top down nature of the strategy. Investment in the national team has taken Ireland from infamously missing the 2021 World Cup to a quarter-final date with France four years later. The standard has been set from the top and it’s now expected at the lower levels. Particularly when the option of the PWR is so close.

All of which demonstrates the strange limbo in which Irish rugby finds itself. No one is arguing the current status quo represents a system which will kick Ireland past a quarter-final in Australia come 2029. Enough players are either looking to England or alternative pursuits to suggest a lack of widespread satisfaction. Administrators are looking to make wholesale changes.

These ideas rest on the assumption that the provincial model is the right fix. Plenty believe it is not, the most vocal critics coming from the club game which sees its own influence dwindling even as some players pick club over Celtic Challenge. Everyone has an idea of what the ideal is but there isn’t clarity on how to get there.

If the provinces come to fruition, creating a standard of competition and professionalism which wins the trust of players, everyone wins. If it does not, it will mean a wasted World Cup cycle in Ireland’s bid to finally fix its women’s ecosystem.

There are many keys to the success of this project to create a thriving professional scene which consistently funnels talent to the top. One of the more important ones is to listen to the players needed to populate the system. There are plenty who are appear to be making their current feelings clear.