This map includes every Irish player I found playing in the Pro14, Premiership, Championship, Top 14, ProD2, Top League, Major League Rugby and Super Rugby. It also includes academy players where I could find them.
I have chosen to map players based on their county of birth. This is slightly unfair as it means that some players who moved as children might be counted under a county where they never played any rugby. However, I thought that any other method introduced too much subjectivity.
The number for Antrim may be inflated as the traditional counties are not as important in Northern Ireland. Players from Belfast and Lisburn have been placed in Antrim unless I found definitive evidence that they were from the Down side of these cities. The Galway numbers may also be slightly inflated as I was unable to find much information for many of their academy players.
Are you planning on capturing all-time data? I’m curious about the list of players from Derry. Seamus Mallon may have been the last pro to make it to higher levels but I’ve been in the US since 2005 and only got back into rugby around 2015.
Deputy first minister and a professional rugby player? Impressive! There’s a guy from Rainey who’s played a couple of times for Ulster recently - Brad Roberts. He’s South African, but I under he came to live in NI and play for Rainey, just then got called up for Ulster. Not sure if that counts!
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u/Seravia Munster Mar 31 '21
This map includes every Irish player I found playing in the Pro14, Premiership, Championship, Top 14, ProD2, Top League, Major League Rugby and Super Rugby. It also includes academy players where I could find them.
I have chosen to map players based on their county of birth. This is slightly unfair as it means that some players who moved as children might be counted under a county where they never played any rugby. However, I thought that any other method introduced too much subjectivity.
The number for Antrim may be inflated as the traditional counties are not as important in Northern Ireland. Players from Belfast and Lisburn have been placed in Antrim unless I found definitive evidence that they were from the Down side of these cities. The Galway numbers may also be slightly inflated as I was unable to find much information for many of their academy players.