A new league involving club sides from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales is currently being mooted © Getty Images

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Regional Rugby Wales chief executive Stuart Gallacher insists that he has not been involved in any talks over a proposed British and Irish League - and does not believe that the idea is feasible anyway.

Leicester Tigers chairman Peter Tom argued over the weekend that in light of falling Aviva Premiership attendances and the perilous financial position a number of the league's side's fine themselves in, a new tournament involving clubs from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland was an attractive proposition.

Tom's comments have already generated much debate but Gallagher says that the creation of a British and Irish League has not yet been discussed at regional level.

"There's no substance in this," he is quoted as saying by the Western Mail. "It's probably something that came up in conversation over a pint at a Heineken Cup match!"

Gallagher also believes that a British and Irish League is simply not feasible at the moment given that the proposed entrants are all tied to existing television deals.

"At present we, the regions, have a five-year participation agreement with the WRU to play in a domestic competition," he said. "There is a three-year broadcasting contract in place with the BBC and S4C while the English clubs have a six-year deal with the RFU and television contracts with Sky and ESPN.

"So there's lots of obstacles, contractually, that would have to be overcome for this to ever happen. If you were going to have a 12-team British and Irish League, who would be in it? England has 12 teams, we have four, Ireland have four and Scotland two."

Gallagher also suggested that the ERC, organisers of the Heineken Cup, would take issue with the establishment of tournament involving up to five of its member unions.

"A British and Irish League would duplicate the fixtures you already see in the Heineken, which is a pan-European tournament," he said. "It's all very nice and it would be exciting. We came close to having a British League in 1995, but I feel the barriers to it now are insurmountable."

The talk of a British and Irish League comes hot on the heels of the news that Magners will end its sponsorship of the Celtic League at the end of the season. However, the loss of Magners as title sponsor is not seen as a major blow for a competition which has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons. Indeed, it is already being widely reported that Italian car manufacturer Fiat are keen to take over following the successful addition of two Italian teams, Aironi and Treviso, to the tournament this season.