A shelf rated for 200kg does not mean what most clubs think it means
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Why a rugby forward’s weight, and where it lands, explains the difference between UDL and point load.
Take eight players at Leinster’s 2024 squad average of 105.4kg and you have 843.2kg of rugby players. Spread across eight pairs of boots, that weight is easy to carry. Put it all on one stud, and it’s a very different story.
Shelves work the same way. Every shelving datasheet carries two terms that most people skip: UDL and point load. Mixing them up is an easy mistake in a kit room, a clubhouse store or a garage.
The rating that assumes everything is spread out
UDL stands for uniformly distributed load. It’s the most weight a shelf can safely carry when that weight is spread evenly, edge-to-edge and front-to-back.
The sum is simple: total weight divided by shelf surface area. Spread 300kg across a shelf measuring 1.8m by 0.6m and you get roughly 278kg per square metre.
A point load is the opposite. It’s weight pressing on one small area, such as a heavy machine part sitting on a single section of deck. RackZone, an Irish-owned storage supplier based in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, put it plainly: a shelf rated at 200kg UDL will not necessarily hold a 200kg compressor in one spot. The same total weight can behave “completely differently” depending on how it is spread.
Their analogy fits the rugby field neatly. Standing on one foot is not the same as standing on two, even though your body weight has not changed. The pressure on the floor beneath you has.
A province-by-province weigh-in
RugbyPass’s August 2024 analysis of United Rugby Championship squads gave Ireland’s four provinces the following average weights:
- Leinster: 105.4kg
- Ulster: 105.03kg
- Munster: 103.28kg
- Connacht: 102.23kg
Connacht, the province where RackZone are based, had the lightest average of the four. RugbyPass noted one caveat. The figures cover whole rosters, and because forwards are heavier than backs, the mix of positions affects the average.
What this means for a clubhouse store
Club facilities are a live topic in Irish rugby. In July 2025, the IRFU said it had distributed more than €2.7 million in grants to clubs and schools, with facility upgrades among the things funded. Once the new changing rooms or gym corner are in, the equipment needs somewhere to live.
RackZone’s guidance is practical:
- Spread heavier items across the full depth and width of the shelf.
- Place dense, compact items centrally, over the strongest point of the deck.
- Choose solid steel or timber decks for concentrated loads, rather than wire mesh.
Choosing the right system
Anyone searching for the best shelving in Ireland should start with the rating, not the price. The best shelving in Ireland is simply the shelving whose UDL suits what you plan to put on it.
For bulkier hand-loaded items, longspan shelving is the usual answer. RackZone’s longspan shelving uses steel frames with adjustable beams and shelves, with laminated timber decks available in 400mm, 600mm and 800mm depths. RackZone use the terms longspan racking and longspan shelving for the same adjustable system.
At the heavy end sits pallet racking, where capacity is set by the beam and frame specification. The rule is to never exceed the rated UDL specified by the manufacturer. Pallet racking systems should also meet the EN 15512 design standard and the EN 15635 inspection requirements.
The lesson from the front row is the same as the lesson from the storeroom. The number on the label only tells you half of it. Where the weight sits matters just as much.
