While the Irish provinces have become clubs in the professional era competing in the Heineken European Cup and the Parker Pen European Shield, identifying with one's province is still important and we have a tradition that goes back 128 years. A total of 13,000 adults are playing rugby football in Ireland, 7% of them in Connacht, which receives 19% of funding from the union, apart from the administrative funding budget, of which the province gets 26%. However, the administrative structure is the same irrespective of the size of the province. The cost of the professional teams this year will be €19.9 million while the union's income will be €35 million. More than half of the money is going into the professional game which is as it should be.