The 17th All-Ireland League season, sponsored by AIB for the tenth consecutive year, gets underway on Saturday afternoon.

- Sixteen clubs will compete in each division. Eight clubs will get eight home dates and eight clubs will get seven home dates, i.e. each club has 15 dates. All sixteen clubs in each division are due to play on each date - no club is idle on an AIB League weekend

- 120 fixtures are due to be played in each division. The venues for all games in all three divisions have been reversed since last season. An initial block of four games will be followed by a break of three weekends. Three dates in early-to-mid December are again to be followed by a break of two weekends. All January Saturdays bar the 13th are AIB League weekends - the 13th is the AIB Cup first round date

- At the end of the regular league series, the top two clubs will be automatically promoted out of Division Two and Three and the bottom two clubs will be automatically relegated from Division One and Two. The bottom club in Division Three will be replaced by the winner of the Junior clubs' round robin series. There will be no promotion/relegation play-offs in any division

- No AIB League games have been scheduled for the three Autumn international dates nor for the five RBS 6 Nations weekends. However, the quarter-finals of the AIB Cup will be played on Saturday, Februrary 3 (Ireland are due to play Wales in Cardiff the following day). All AIB League dates are covered by a Magners League/Heineken Cup weekend

- The points system is the same: four points for a win and two points for a draw plus two opportunities for collecting a bonus point (a) one BP for losing by seven points or less and (b) one BP for scoring four tries or more

- On completion of the regular AIB League series, the top four clubs in each division will enter the play-offs. The championship semi-finals in each division (the club placed first will be at home to the fourth-placed side and the club placed second will be at home to the third-ranked team) are set for Saturday, April 21 (Division Two and Three) and Saturday, April 28 (Division One). The championship finals have been fixed for Saturday, May 5

DIVISION ONE:

Provincial Breakdown - Leinster 6, Munster 5, Ulster 3, Connacht 2

*During the season, two clubs (Galwegians and UL Bohemians) are due to play three home games in succession while one club (UCD) will play three away fixtures on the trot

*Due to Heineken Cup activity, seven Sunday dates have been scheduled (Dolphin receive three of them)

*The venues for all games in Division One have been reversed since last season. Cork Constitution, Garryowen and Shannon remain the only three clubs who have been omnipresent in Division One since the 1990/91 season

*There are two Cork clubs in Division One - Dungannon and Buccaneers do not have to visit Cork this season

*Ballymena, UL Bohemians and Garryowen all have four trips to Leinster this season. Dungannon, Shannon and Dolphin all entertain four Leinster clubs this season

*Clontarf have four home games against Leinster clubs but must undertake four visits to the Munster province this season. Terenure College and Dolphin join the fourteen 2005/06 top flight clubs in Division One this season. Dolphin have inherited Dublin University's fixtures so they must visit Ulster three times before Christmas

...A sponsor's banner hangs proudly in the North Terrace at Lansdowne Road, during last season's Division One final win for Shannon over Clontarf...

DIVISION TWO:

Provincial Breakdown - Leinster 8, Munster 7, Ulster 1, Connacht 0

*The venues for all games in Division Two have been reversed since last season. All clubs that had seven home games and eight away fixtures last season will have eight home games and seven away trips this season and vice versa

*Malone will, this season, undertake their 14th consecutive campaign in Division Two. For Bective, it is their 13th

*The newly-promoted Clonakilty will entertain six Leinster clubs this season. Two Dublin 4 clubs Bective and Old Belvedere must travel five times to Munster this season

*Due to Heineken Cup activity, seven Sunday dates have been scheduled (Thomond and Young Munster each get three Sunday games). Easter Saturday - Saturday, April 7 - is the last league date in Division Two

DIVISION THREE:

Provincial Breakdown - Ulster 8, Leinster 2, Connacht 2, Munster 4

*The venues for all games in Division Three have been reversed since last season. With eight Ulster clubs involved there will be 28 Ulster derbies in Division Three this season

*Four of the competing clubs were formerly in Division One and four entered the AIB League from the junior ranks. All clubs, except Ballynahinch, that had eight home games and seven away trips last season will have a seven-eight split this season

*Due to Heineken Cup activity, three Sunday dates have been scheduled. Connemara and Wanderers each entertain five Ulster clubs this season while Old Wesley and Waterpark visit Ulster on five occasions, the latter three times before Christmas

*The newly-promoted Rainey Old Boys from Magherafelt become the second County Derry club to join the league. They are the 16th junior club to graduate into the AIB League since 1995/96 and the fourth such club from Ulster

*Corinthians will be participating in Division Three for the 13th time. Old Wesley (six seasons), Instonians (five), Wanderers (two) and Sunday's Well (one) have all spent previous time in Division One