All-Ireland League: Johnny Watterson hears the IRFU's arguments for restructuring the All-Ireland League - union overheads and club debts.

The suits in the suite cut a heavyweight panel. The IRFU know the value of home advantage. Yesterday was their day. Their five-man trouble-shooting team sat high in Lansdowne's East Stand hospitality and tried to marry a number of insoluble concepts for a roomful of sceptics: professionalism and volunteerism; business savvy and amateurism; Six Nations breadwinners and costly club rugby.

The question was how to generate more Paul O'Connells and Brian O'Driscolls from a club scene now on its knees. Change the system or persevere? The answers, according to the IRFU, came from the clubs themselves in endless rounds of meetings and workshops and from the information gleaned from the Genesis Report. It's their firmly held view that the end result comes from "The Consultative Process" and they must change the way club competition operates.

"The consultative process told us in no uncertain terms that the existing structure had to change," said director of rugby Eddie Wigglesworth.

Chief executive Philip Browne and his team sought to sell the idea of 48 teams in four provincial leagues, as a qualification process for an AIL competition, to a media industry finding it difficult to sustain an appetite for the current All-Ireland structure.

The why of it is that the IRFU will likely lose €5 million this year and more importantly nearly every AIL club in the land is financially stressed.

This is an undeniable fact. Honorary treasurer John Lyons, who is privy to each club's financial report, tells us so. The crisis is that clubs are currently haemorrhaging money. The IRFU's proposed structure is their attempt to stem the flow.

In that respect the union's view is that change is not just needed but vital. Despite the dissident voices from a number of first division clubs, notably in Munster and Connacht, who want structures to remain as they are, the IRFU are insistent that the option of "no change" was never even on the table.

"The status quo was never an option. It could never be an option. Forcing the union and clubs down the road to financial uncertainty was never going to be viable," said Browne.

"There is no financial bullet out there that we can fire. We are on a very, very, very tight leash at the moment. The reality is that there is just not enough money."

Clearly, not all clubs will accept the IRFU's approach to belt tightening, and while their delivery on the financial issues was broadly accepted, it was not done so without question. There is a consensus that change is needed. The debate centres around how to do that and concerns that the current problems may after all persist.

The issue of enormous mismatches between sides in the provincial structure are a real concern; the current ranking of club rugby, third behind international and Heineken Cup, will not change; and the expectation that a media or spectator interest exists seems open to question. The clubs are worried that, when the new structures are introduced in the 2004-05 season, far from being rescued from the margins, where they now languish, they may sink without trace in their provinces.

"Our clubs are dying. We can't get coaches, we can't get administrators, and we can't get players. Those things came out clearly when we were having the meetings," said Browne. "We have to expand the playing base. The real fall-off is at adult junior level. That's where the club economy is based."

Wigglesworth focused on "Leagues of Consequence". If there are leagues of consequence "then all ships will rise." And "there will be more competitive games over a consistent season."

It's all positive and aspirational stuff.

The nuts and bolts are that there will be a 10-week provincial league beginning in September 2004, the branches responsible for organising it. Based on the results of the provincial leagues, three AIL leagues will be formed for the second half of the season. These AIL compositions may change every year depending on provincial results. Importantly, it is the province that wins or loses an AIL divisional slot and not the club. For example, if Belfast Harlequins win Division One of the AIL and bottom out in Ulster the following season, they will not play AIL that season, though there will be an Ulster slot available.

As team rankings change each year with promotion and relegation, it's a theoretical possibility that in time one province could supply most of the teams in Division One. But the new club regime, say the union, is designed to solve club problems, not create more.

"This is to ease financial pressures across the board," said Lyons. Anecdotal evidence is that many clubs have yet to be convinced.