 Since 2017, the Player of the Year has been awarded The Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy, commissioned in tribute to Anthony Foley, the former Munster head-coach.The Elite Awards were created by ERC, to celebrate the 10th anniversary season of the Heineken Cup.Introduced to recognise the most prominent teams and players of the competitions, EPCR has since maintained and continued the awards, updating them to include both Heineken Cup and European Rugby Champions Cup appearances.