The traumas of relegation and promotion

Relegation is never pleasant. Often it is traumatic. But it can also allow a club to buy a little time, reorganise and come back stronger. The point about promotion and relegation from Divisions 1 of the Open Competitions is that just about everyone has been there. Since the system was first introduced in 1993, when there was briefly seven teams and one up / one down, no club has been ever present in the top Division. Of the current teams who have played in Division 1 and 2 only North County have never been demoted from D1, though they have come close on a number of occasions.

The first club to be relegated from D1 was Leinster. A fate that has befallen them three times since 1993. Carlisle was the first team to be promoted from what was called originally Section B and they managed to stay up until the club folded following the 1998 season.

Only three teams survived in D1 for the first five years of the new structures, YMCA, Pembroke and Clontarf. In 1997 Clontarf’s became the first club to fall foul of the change in the regulations to two up / two down. The Hills were the first beneficiaries and came up in second place after Merrion. It was still a seven team league at this point.

In 1998 Merrion became the first team to go straight back down the year following promotion, while Clontarf did the same in the opposite direction. The bounce factor, up and down, has become more pronounced in recent years. This year neither Malahide nor Cork County [promoted in 2014] were able to survive in the top division. This happened once before in 2010, when the teams involved were Phoenix and Pembroke. A team staying only one year in the top division following promotion has occurred seven times since 2010, only one less than for the 17 years back to 1993. This suggests that the gap between D1 and D2 and the challenge involved in staying up is greater than ever.

Six teams have bounced back to D1 within one year of relegation since 2010, compared with nine for the rest of the promotion / relegation era. Clontarf have proved the most successful with their three drops only lasting the single year.

Returning to the chronology. In 2000 the unbroken run of seven years in D1 for Pembroke ended when they came last in the league, leaving only YMCA of the original teams in D1 to have participated every year. But this record was only going to survive a further season as YMCA came last in 2001.

Pembroke immediately bounced back after winning Section B in 2001 and became the first team to follow it up by winning Section A the following year. They also managed to come bottom the next year [2003].

In 2010 the current eight team structure was introduced. This meant that North County, who were second last the previous season, were reprieved as an extra team was added to what was now called Division 1.

Over the years there have been fifteen cases where a team on promotion has not survived for more than one year in the top flight. The experience of coming straight back up is equally common with 15 teams doing this over the twenty three years. Pembroke and Malahide have provided to be the most volatile both experiencing five years in a row of relegation or promotion.

So difficult as it always in from relegated clubs, there are no barriers to regaining a place in the top league. The following table provides the details.