Ulster Rugby - Annual Report 2017-18

congratulated on having toured with the British and Irish Lions last summer. Congratulations again go to Rory who, as may have been mentioned previously, captained the Irish team to the Grand Slam in the spring, accompanied by Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale. The other Ulster players to play for Ireland during the 2017/18 season were Paddy Jackson, Luke Marshall, John Cooney, Kieran Treadwell, Sean Reidy, Rob Herring and Stuart McCloskey. Nick Timoney was a regular on the Ireland Sevens team last summer. In the women’s game there were Ireland caps for Ashleigh Baxter, Larissa Muldoon, Claire McLaughlin, Ilse Van Stadden and Nikki Caughey. Ashleigh Baxter and Clare Bowles also played for the Irish Sevens team. A significant number of Ulster players were selected to play for Ireland at various age grade levels. They were A Adair, M Agnew, A Allison, T Armstrong, P Cooper, A Curtis, G Curtis, M Dalton, N Doak, J Dunleavy, A Hall, B Houston, J Hume, M Keane, A Kernohan, P McAlpine, J Macartney, D McCann, P McGookin, J McKee, C Milligan, R O’Neill, A Sexton, S Moore, T O’Toole, B Power, M Rea, J Stewart and T Stewart. In the Ireland U18 Women’s Sevens there were caps for L Kinghan and K McCormill. Our congratulations go to all of those mentioned above. The Branch Committee was also pleased to recognise the following appointments: Ian McIlrath Senior Vice President of the IRFU Alan McGonigle Ireland U19 Team Manager Kieran Campbell Ireland U18 Schools Team Manager John McKinney Ireland U18 Clubs & Schools Team Manager Michael Black Ireland U18 Clubs & Schools Team Manager Stanley McDowell Ireland Sevens, U18 Sevens, Ireland Women’s Sevens Assistant Coach THANKS While the collation of this report is my responsibility, the vast majority of the information which it contains is down to the efforts of others, both members of staff and volunteers, and I thank them all for submitting their reports on time. As is always the case, given the overlap in responsibilities, it is inevitable that some information has appeared more than once. If you noticed any such duplication, please accept my thanks for having taken the trouble to read the report. At Council last year I said that one of my responsibilities was that of keeping the President in line. This proved to be a relatively simple task, most of the time, at least. Graffin Parke was extremely diligent throughout the season, giving up his time freely to attend a wide range

of functions. He always did so with a smile on his face, and both he and his wife, Lexi, are fully deserving of our thanks and appreciation. In properly fulfilling their roles, the other Officers of the Branch also committed a lot of their time and effort. Our thanks are therefore recorded to Stephen Elliott, Gary Leslie, Michael Boyd and Greg Irwin, and to all of our Committee Chairs. As I intimated at the beginning of this report 2017/18 has been, to say the least, extremely challenging. The difficult issues which arose took up an incredible amount of the time of both volunteers and staff. To all of them, on behalf of the Branch, I again offer my sincere thanks. No matter when or how many meetings were called, and there were many of them, everyone involved gave up their time to do what needed. While we have undoubtedly suffered some damage, both financial and reputational, we have come through and the future looks a lot brighter that it did a few short months ago. Paul Terrington, serving in his first year as Chairman of the Management Committee, must have wondered what he had let himself in for. I cannot speak highly enough of Paul’s contribution. His clarity of thought, advice and decision making were always of the highest calibre and he is deserving of our special thanks. I also wish to thank our three Trustees, Neil Jackson, Hugh Logan and Harry McKibbin for taking the time to listen to my problems, and for their understanding, assistance and guidance. John Robinson, John McKibbin, Davy Millar and Gerry Drennan spend an inordinate amount of time on behalf of the Branch in the fulfilment of their roles as our representatives on the Union Committee. This is much appreciated. I referred to the USRFR earlier in the report, and to the difficulties which they sometimes face in terms of abuse. It is noted that the Disciplinary Committee has taken the issue of abuse extremely seriously and that one offender was handed down a 52 week suspension during the season. We all appreciate that the lot of the referee is not an easy one at the best of times and convey our thanks for all of their efforts on our behalf. As was the case last year, this report would not have been completed on time without the assistance, guidance and indeed persistance of Lesley McGaughey, to whom I offer my personal thanks. I am pleased to present to you the Annual Report of the Ulster Branch for 2017/18 and commend it to you for

your acceptance. Denis Gardiner Honorary Secretary

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