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Munster have just bagged themselves a League of Legends esports franchise

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Munster have just turned themselves into an electronic sport’s franchise, inking a partnership with Phelan Gaming who will now compete as Munster Rugby Gaming in forthcoming tournaments. Founded in 2016 by Ciaran Walsh, Phelan Gaming is reputedly Ireland’s most successful esports team.

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They primarily focus on League of Legends, the most popular online game in the world, and in 2019 they finished third in the UK and Ireland League of Legends League.

Esports is among the fastest-growing sports globally – it has even secured a demonstration slot at the 2024 Olympics in Paris – and it has left Munster keen on getting a slice of the action during the global stoppage of live rugby due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Ireland players Jack Carty and Jordi Murphy take part in the RugbyPass FIFA charity tournament

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Ireland players Jack Carty and Jordi Murphy take part in the RugbyPass FIFA charity tournament

Munster CEO Ian Flanagan said: “Esports attracts a huge global audience of supporters and players both young and not so young.

“In seeking new ways to bring Munster to a wider audience at home and abroad, we identified the strong performances of Phelan Gaming and were excited to be able to partner with them and feel there is great potential for all involved. We’re delighted to be one of the first rugby clubs in the world to establish a presence in esports.”

Enda Lynch, Munster head of enterprise, added: “Munster constantly explore ways in which we can bring our brand and high-performance knowhow to new opportunities for our supporters and commercial partners. At its peak, esports participants require physical and mental attributes fit for high performing environments.

“We are excited to be bringing both this knowledge and our brand strengths to the partnership with Ciaran and the Munster Rugby Gaming team. Many of our supporters are already active gamers and we look forward to their sharing in Munster Rugby Gaming’s fortunes when the action commences this June.”

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Phelan Gaming CEO Walsh said: “We have been keen to expand beyond our established esports audience in Ireland and the UK and wanted to partner with a respected club with a passionate supporter base in order to achieve that.

“We believe that with Munster, we have found the perfect partner to Stand Up and Fight with, not only in Ireland and the UK but on a global scale.”

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FF 3 hours ago
The story of Romania's Mariana Lucescu: The Stejarii ‘Madame Rugby’

You’re welcome and sorry for the late reply.

could targeted investment by IRB/World Rugby and other have helped over the decades?

I think so. More money is always good and compared to other T2 Federations, although things aren’t perfect, the Romanian Rugby Federation did a good job managing it’s budget.

I think I saw T2Rugby tweeting that out of T2 nations funding around half goes to the 3 Pacific Islands which might be a bit of a waste considering how much coruption there is inside those Federations.


I had read there was a big exodus to France after professionalism which was a major blow, could investment at this critical juncture have kept more of those players, coaches, officials in place and reduced the damage?

It was a major blow for the local championship and the level of the local competition.

This was fixed in 2011 when the Superliga was created - a professional league with 8 teams. I think it had 10 in it’s peak. Having a pro league for a T2 nation is really good but now the issue is there are only 6 teams which means you don’t have a lot of matches during a season. It would’ve been great if there would be again 8 or 10 teams but I don’t see that happening any time soon.


However, for the national side, this exodus was really good. Even now we get benefits from it, although we don’t have as many players abroad, because kids of those players are playing at a higher intensity level in France - ex. Gontineac, Mitu.

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