Ulster Rugby vs Toulon

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55 ULSTERRUGBY
IAN BEGGS CALLS IT A DAY
Ian Beggs, a very popular administrator of the
game of rugby for many years, both at club
and Ulster Branch level, has stood down from
both the Clubs Committee and the Competition
Management Committee, after an involvement
of 41 years. Ian association with his club
Carrickfergus stretches back, even further, 58
years and counting.
Ian has been a stalwart of Carrickfergus RFC for
seven decades. It all began when Ian, who did
not play rugby, attended their Annual General
Meeting on 4th September 1956, on the invitation
of some of his friends, who were members
(primarily to get out of the rain, it has been said).
At this meeting Ian was promptly elected Club
Honorary Secretary, a post which he held for thirty
eight years, until 1994.
In addition, Ian has been a Club Trustee at
Carrickfergus for over 20 years and also one
of the founding members of the club’s Sevens
Committee. Carrick 7s has now been running
continuously for over forty years and has become
one of the most successful and prestigious
sevens tournaments in Ireland.
Together with his years of sterling service to his
club, Ian has also been a committed servant to
Ulster Rugby at Branch level, serving in several
roles.
He has been the Carrickfergus RFC representative
on the Clubs Committee (previously called the
Junior Committee) from 1973 to 2014 and was one
of five representatives from this committee to the
main Branch Committee from 1979 to 2012.
Ian has also served, with distinction, on the
Competitions Management Committee (and
its predecessor). This committee is one of the
hardest working committees in the Branch
and deals with the organisation and day to
day running of all the various cup and league
competitions. He was appointed to this committee
in 1976, has been a member ever since and
was made its Chairman in1987, serving until his
retirement last May.
Time was also made by Ian to serve on the
International Ticket Allocation Committee for many
years and to add to his other numerous roles
he took on one of the least glamorous jobs at
the Branch, that of a Voluntary Steward at Ulster
matches, a task undertaken in all weathers for over
20 years.
Ian’s service to rugby was recognised, when he
received two prestigious awards, the Dorrington
B Faulkner (in 2007) and The Mr Boots Awards
(in 2008). The Dorrington B Faulkner Award is
an award sponsored by Perennials RFC which is
presented at the Ulster Rugby Awards Dinner, each
year. It is awarded to a person who is deemed to
have made an outstanding contribution to club
rugby in Ulster over a number of years. The Mr.
Boots award is presented every year to someone
who has excelled in their work for junior rugby in
Ireland and was introduced after the retirement
of Willie John McBride in 1980. One of Willie
John’s last games was against Arklow RFC and
afterwards he presented his boots as a memento
hence the wording of the prestigious annual IRFU
award. Ian was a worthy winner of both these
awards.
In addition, at the Annual General Meeting of the
Branch in 2012 he was honoured by being elected
an Honorary Life Vice President of the Ulster
Branch, an honour which has only been awarded
three times.
While Ian has retired from his commitments with
the Ulster Branch, he will remain heavily involved
with Carrickfergus RFC, particularly in planning for
the club’s 150thanniversary celebrations next year.
Ulster Rugby thanks Ian for his long and valuable
service and wishes him well for the future.
Ian’s voluntary service to rugby shows that you
don’t need to play rugby to get involved in the
life and soul of a rugby club. Volunteers are the
lifeblood of our sport whether as administrators,
coaches, referees, fundraisers or something else. If
you would like to find out more about volunteering
please email
IAN BEGGS
UlsterBranch
Ian Beggs (centre) receives a plaque from Wilson Greene (Virginia RFC) prior Tuesday evening’s Clubs
Committee meeting as (l-r) Denis Gardiner (Competitions Honorary Secretary), John Kinnear (Ulster Branch
President) and Shane Logan (Ulster Rugby Chief Executive) look on