London Irish
London Irish Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team in England. They are based in London and are nicknamed The Exiles or The Drummers. The club was founded in 1898 by Irish people living in London.
Over the years they have played at several grounds. They spent twenty years at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, then moved to the Brentford Community Stadium in west London for the 2020–21 season. The Brentford stadium holds about 17,250 people.
Key achievements include winning the Powergen Cup in 2002 at Twickenham. They reached the Premiership final in 2009 but lost 10–9 to Leicester Tigers, and they were finalists in the 2005–06 European Challenge Cup, losing to Gloucester.
In recent years the club ran into serious money problems. In 2023, HM Revenue & Customs filed winding-up petitions over unpaid tax, and the club was at risk of being suspended from competition. In February 2025 a takeover was completed by a consortium led by Eddie Jordan, an Irish businessman and former Formula One team owner. The new owners plan to restart competitive rugby in 2026, with options to return to the Premiership or join the United Rugby Championship. They also want to establish a home ground in west London, a women’s team, and an academy, and to move toward fan ownership.
London Irish have produced many international players, including Topsy Ojo. Their training ground is the Hazelwood Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames. The club’s mascots are Digger, the Irish wolfhound, and his cousin Duggie. Rivalries include Harlequins and Saracens, with London Scottish as a friendly foe.
The club continues its long history as a key part of London rugby, aiming to bounce back and return to top-level competition in the coming years.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:54 (CET).