Irish Rugby made a surplus of income over expenditure of €7.8 million in the last year.  The figure was revealed at the AGM of the IRFU in Dublin on Friday but a cautious note was sounded on future income streams.
The main threat was said to be a possible restructuring of the Heineken Cup with negotiation due to start this autumn over proposed changes brought forward by English and French clubs.  ERC Rugby generated €1.8 million revenue for Irish Rugby with the progress of Leinster and Ulster to the Heineken Cup Final a major boost.
The Rugby World Cup and the loss of Autumn Internationals meant that a number of key items across income and expenditure were out of sync in 2011/12 against the previous year but a number of line items are worth noting.  General development expenses were up though the cost of coaching courses was down.
The number of registered players across the four provinces rose from 153,823 to 160,875 with increase in each area of the game.
Marketing costs were down, largely as a result of the fewer home international matches and the Union spent a figure of €300,000 defending against the suggestion that Heineken cup matches should be part of the free to air broadcast programme of sporting fixtures.
All of the key sponsors were thanked with a welcome for Volkswagen who replaced Ford as a partner during the year.
One strange item to do with sponsorship was that the front cover of the annual report showed a juvenile player in clearly branded Kukri clothing as opposed to Puma.
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