London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club, also known as London Irish Wild Geese, is an amateur English rugby union club based in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, who play their rugby in Regional 2 Thames[5]– a league at tier 6 of the English rugby union system – following their relegation from London & South East Premier at the end of the 2019–20 season.[6] They are the amateur team of former professional team London Irish[7] and play at Hazelwood.[8][9]
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.[10] The club was founded in September 1999 after London Irish left The Avenue to play at the Twickenham Stoop before moving to Madejski Stadium in Reading the following year.[11][8][12][13][1] It was formed to be the feeder club for senior and junior amateur players to then go on to play for London Irish, who until the end of the 2015–16 season played in the English Premiership.[14] A few players such as Adrian Flavin, Tom Smallbone[15],[16] Paul Burke, Kevin Barret, Justin Bishop and Kieran Campbell went on to play international rugby.
London Irish and London Irish Amateur[17][18] jointly share the new Hazelwood rugby complex[19][20].[21][9] 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.[22] In return, members of London Irish's Academy are entitled to play for London Irish Amateur.[23]
The first team's official name was changed to London Irish Wild Geese after the Rugby Football Union's governance committee gave consent for the change of name. In 2011, they were promoted from London 1 into National League 3 London & SE.[24] In 2012, they were moved into National League 3 South West,.[25][26] In 2013, they were promoted into National League 2 South.[27]
London Irish Amateur receives a grant from the Irish Government's Emigrant Support Programme to support Mini Rugby.[28]
London Irish Amateur Emeralds were formed in 2015 [11][29] and completed in their first fixtures in season 2016 to 2017. In season 2017 to 2018 they competed in Women's NC South East West 3[30] and were promoted.