About Us
The 'Finches League' was the first recognised sponsor of Interschools showjumping in 1990, and was created out of a demand for a structured showjumping event covering schools all over Ireland. As a manifestation of the All-Ireland competition which happened on an annual basis in Enniscorthy, the need for regular competions grew each year.
Irish Ferries took over sponsorship in 1996, a most welcome sponsor as prize money regularly went into the Hickstead 'Pot'. This was the start of the Irish dominace in taking top places at the Hickstead Senior Schools Competition. Irish teams continue to travel to Hickstead with great success each year.
Hoofprints became our next sponsor with Donal O'Beirne taking on the headache of organising results and reports. Also to the fore of this organisation are Paul Cuddihy, Helen O'Neill, Miriam Rickerby and Barbara Algar.
In 2012 Déaglán and Tara from Soup Design came on board as co-sponsor with the establishment of the Equestrian Interschools Ireland brand and website open to all equestrian sports of interest to students.
From September 2012 Jumpinaction.com and Equestrian World Maynooth were welcomed on board as sponsors in conjunction with Soup Design for this and subsequent seasons. From 2013 Horse Sport Ireland has become involved and sponsored the 1.10m Premier Individual Class held for the first time at the 2012-2013 final.
In 2015, TRI Equestrian announced their sponsorship of the Equestrian Interschools Ireland League with a total prize fund of over €10,000. The Equestrian Interschools League Committee thanks TRI for its generous sponsorship. TRI Equestrian also sponsor the Meadows equestrian League in Northern Ireland and its March 17th Show became part of the EII TRI League as part of across border cooperations and to encourage All Ireland participation in Interschools.
In 2016 TRI Equestrian confirmed that they are continuing as chief sponsors. This was reconfirmed in 2021.
EII is now a membership based organisation. Membership is easy to apply for. Simply click on www.itsplainsailing.com/club/eii
Also in 2016 after many years of dedicated service, Barbara Algar has stepped down as Chairman. Helen O'Neill is assuming this role and Yvonne Byrne has kindly taken over as secretary. The organisation continues to have support from many schools representatives.
In 2017 the top teams in the EII league were invited to compete at the Balmoral Show in its inaugural Inteschools Championships against Northern ireland teams who qualified at Interschools shows in Northern ireland. This continued in 2018.
For the first time since its inception due to the COVID pandemic the Interschools league final could not proceed. Instead a virtual prizegiving was held. There were no competitions for the 2020 2021 season. Interschools events recommenced for the 2021 2022 season. As the world comes back to normal following the COVID pandemic the Interschools season and Balmoral interschools Championship recommened. In 2022 Equieire became the chief sponsor of the 90cm individual class, confined to novice riders. In 2023 TRI Equestrian extended its sponsorship to take over the Premier 110cm class.