Ulster Rugby Annual Report 2016-17

— — The Executive Office Programme – ‘Central Good Relations Fund 2016/17’. £42,279 was awarded to the IRFU (Ulster Branch) to deliver the ‘Inclusive Rugby’ programme which was aimed at forty mainstream schools from the extended schools programme and twenty Special Educational Needs schools. — — Department for Communities –£40,000 was awarded to deliver a project that aimed to provide sporting and educational opportunities to young females and people with disabilities, utilising the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup in August 2017. The project engaged with thirteen primary and three special educational needs schools. Activities included an interactive tour of the Nevin Spence Education Centre and Kingspan Stadium, values based rugby sessions and celebration events at local clubs. The IRFU (Ulster Branch) also partnered with the sport for social change charity, Sported, to get more young females physically active and playing sport. Three rugby clubs; City of Armagh, Larne and Carrickfergus benefitted from one to one training and insight on removing barriers to female participation. Each club was supported by a Sported volunteer mentor to develop a ‘Women and Girls Engagement Plan’ to put the training and insight into practice. — — Public Health Agency – £15,000 of funding was secured to run a number of pilot programmes health and wellbeing initiatives between October 2016 and March 2017. These programmes engaged over five hundred participants with ages ranging from fourteen to seventy plus and included:-

Funding To support the development of Rugby within Ulster, the IRFU (Ulster Branch) continues to work hard to identify and secure additional sources of funding to grow its own programmes as well as support our affiliated clubs and schools. The IRFU remains the largest financial supporter of the Domestic Game through the provision of an annual Service Level Agreement which contributes to the deployment of a significant number of development officers across the province. In addition funding has also been received from a number of other organisations to support the deployment of specific staff including:- — — Sport Northern Ireland – ‘Performance Focus’ programme which supports two posts within the Domestic Game and two within the Ulster Rugby Academy. This programme came to an end on the 31st March 2017. At the time of writing a decision is pending in relation to Sport NI’s next four year programme (Sporting Clubs and Sporting Winners) which would see funding continued through until 2021. — — Department for Communities – ‘Home for Lifelong Volunteering Programme’ which has delivered its fifth successful year of club and volunteer development focussed activity in conjunction with the Irish FA and Ulster GAA. Funding to the value of £58,000 contributed to the employment of two dedicated roles up until the 31st March 2017. At the time of writing an application is being considered by the Department for the continuation of the project. In addition, other funds have been accessed throughout the year to support the delivery of specific projects. These have included:- 14 14 IRFU ULSTER BRANCH ANNUAL REPORT & STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2016/17

» » ‘Health and Wellbeing Programme’ for five schools which was hosted at the Kingspan Stadium.