Rugby clubs recruiting players in Ireland
26 clubs in Ireland are recruiting through Rugby Unlocked, with 6 open vacancies right now. 9 offer housing, 10 help with visas and 14 help players find work. Every club below has a public profile you can read before you apply. Applying is free for players.
Playing club rugby in Ireland
- Season
- The Energia All-Ireland League runs from 26 September 2026 to the finals on 25 April 2027. Pre-season starts in August.
- Leagues
- 50 clubs in the All-Ireland League: Divisions 1A, 1B and 2A of ten teams each, and from 2026/27 a regionalised 2B North and 2B South in place of 2B and 2C. Each province runs its own club leagues below that.
- Visa
- UK citizens need nothing: the Common Travel Area gives the right to live and work in Ireland. A player from outside the EEA who is paid by a club needs a Sport and Cultural Employment Permit (500 euro for up to six months, 1,000 euro for up to 24 months) at the national minimum wage or above.
- Overseas players
- An AIL club may register one overseas player, defined as a non-EU national on a work visa of at least a year, and must do so before 1 October. EU and British passport holders do not count towards that limit. IRFU-contracted professionals may not play in the AIL.
- Clearance
- World Rugby Regulation 4: a player leaving one union to play in another cannot be registered or play until the new union has received a Clearance from the old one. Ask your current club and union for it before you travel; it stays valid until replaced by a later one.
Ireland is the easiest move for a British player because there is no visa to arrange and the season lines up with the one at home. The trade is standard: AIL rugby is amateur, and the IRFU keeps its contracted players out of it, so the top divisions are semi-professional in intensity but not in pay. Ask a club what it offers in writing before you travel, and read the vacancy for whether the offer includes housing or a job.
From the 2026/27 season the IRFU has split Division 2B into north and south sections to cut travel; the union says the change is meant to ease demands on players and make the league more sustainable. Clubs below the AIL play in provincial leagues run by Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht, which is where most first-season arrivals from abroad land.
Read on from IRFU, Energia All-Ireland League 2026/27 season launch, IRFU, changes to the AIL structure for 2026/27, Energia All-Ireland League regulations (overseas player rule 9.14), Citizens Information, the Common Travel Area, Department of Enterprise, Sport and Cultural Employment Permit, World Rugby, Regulation 4 (player movement and clearances).