Sir, - Edmund Van Esbeck's comments regarding London Irish (Sport, April 6th) merit a response on behalf of the amateur dimension. To rehash the professional rugby debate again and again is at best contentious and at worst futile. The professional game is here, with all its manifest birth pangs. What is now needed is an accommodation where both brothers of the same family, the amateur and the professional, can work together in the common interest of promulgating good rugby. Great efforts are currently under way at London Irish to achieve this. It is, however, somewhat disingenuous of Mr Van Esbeck, a distinguished voice of Irish rugby, to accuse London Irish of being at the forefront of stripping Ireland of its best players and then, by way of measuring its commitment to Irish Rugby, ask the question: "How many Irish players are currently playing on the club's first XV?" You can't have it both ways.
But London Irish is much more than the First XV. It has a vibrant amateur club within the "family", with over 500 minis and juniors and more than 50 qualified coaches. The adult sides, which felt the main brunt of the introduction of professionalism, are now renewing themselves with vigour. All of these sides play in the green of 102 years of distinguished "Irish" rugby. This green, in the mini and junior sections, strikes genuine and justified fear and respect into the hearts of our competitors in both county and festival competitions. A glance at our bulging trophy cabinets will attest to this fact.
To say that The London Irish Club is no longer an extension of the Irish game is as sweeping as it is offensive to the many exiles that give of their time and effort to keep the Irishness at London Irish. Our tours and festivals, this year blighted by the foot-and-mouth outbreak, are consistently arranged in partnership with Irish clubs.
It is true that London Irish is an integral part of the first division set-up in England, but that is a matter of place and circumstance. We, the exiles and our sons and daughters, are proud to be Irish and London Irish. Do not disenfranchise a huge part of the greater Irish community by reference to the problems that are currently besetting the professional game in England. - Yours, etc.,
Chris Kane, Chairman, London Irish Amateur RFC, Teddington, Middlesex, England.