Ulster Rugby Annual Report 2015

Since April 2015, Ulster Rugby has recruited 102 new

volunteers across 12 programmes.

The ongoing support of volunteers across the

province has been delivered through a range of Club

Development workshops. Topics covered include

Safeguarding;

—

Volunteer Succession Planning;

—

Ground staff Training (in partnership with

Greenmount College);

—

How to Make Things Happen in Your Rugby Club;

—

How to Best Operate as a CASC or Charity and

Maximise your Income Through Gift Aid; Player

Recruitment and Retention;

—

Facility Development.

In addition, development staff hosted training for new

Honorary Secretaries and facilitated an Honorary

Secretary Forum in Kingspan followed by 3 Regional

Forums. Through these workshops and direct support

to club volunteers, development staff have engaged

with close to 350 volunteers from 26 clubs. Whilst the

content of these workshops is always praised by those

attending, by far the biggest challenge remains in

getting more volunteers from more clubs to engage with

these training opportunities.

The Ulster Branch also introduced 3 new awards to

recognise the contribution that volunteers make to the

game. The Ulster Rugby Unsung Hero Award went to

Arthur James of Larne RFC, the Ulster Rugby Club and

Community Volunteer Award went to Brian McNally of

Innishowen RFC and the Ulster Rugby Inspiring Young

Volunteer Award went to Áine Doran from Randalstown

RFC. The recipients were invited as guests to the

Leinster game at Kingspan Stadium and were presented

with their awards by the President during the pre-match

function.

Funding and Initiatives

The Domestic Game continues to receive funding from

a number of different sources to assist with the delivery

of various programmes in line with our overall objectives

for the game in Ulster.

The IRFU, through an annual service level agreement,

continues to be the single largest funder of the domestic

game. This funding supports a significant number of

development officers who are distributed across the

province. This funding is supplemented by the following

bodies who also directly support the employment of

dedicated development staff:-

—

Sport Northern Ireland

– ‘Performance Focus’

programme which supports 2 posts within the

Domestic Game and 2 posts with the Ulster Rugby

Academy.

—

Department for Social Development

- “Sport, A

Home for Lifelong Volunteering” (April 2015 – March

2016), now in its fourth year has been a significant

success for Ulster Rugby. The aim of the project is

to design and deliver volunteer, club and community

development programmes across the three largest

governing bodies of sport in Northern Ireland.

In addition, other funds have been accessed throughout

the year to support the delivery of specific projects.

These have included:-

—

Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure

“Promoting Equality, Tackling Poverty and Social

Exclusion” (January – March 2016). The overall

purpose of this project was to increase participation

in rugby union among females and people with

disabilities. Key achievements of the programme

included:

5 community gyms installed – Ballynahinch RFC,

Enniskillen RFC, Carrickfergus RFC, City of Derry

RFC and Grosvenor Community Centre

12 new female (U12) teams established

214 new female club players

1645 overall participants engaged in activity

1375 female participants engaged in activity

270 disability participants engaged

21 new disability club players

—

OFMDFM “Try Rugby Values” (January – March

2016)

. The aim of the programme was to engage

with young people from diverse backgrounds within

marginalised communities and bring them together

in a series of activities that would promote good

relations, respect and exclusivity. 694 Key Stage 3

pupils across 27 different schools from the Extended

Schools Programme took part in the cross-

community activity which included schools from

different backgrounds linking together and taking

a tour of the Kingspan Stadium, a visit to the Nevin

Spence Centre and participation in a curriculum

based good relations workshop.

—

Public Health Agency “Health and Well-being

Pilot Week” (February/March 2016).

Kingspan

Stadium played host to a community health and

well-being week for non-traditional rugby schools,

focussed at Key Stage 3 pupils. 270 young people

attended the project, benefiting from presentations

and activities focused on nutrition, physical health

and positive mental health.

—

Public Health Agency “Get Fit with Ulster Rugby

Bootcamps” (January – March 2016).

123 females

across 4 rugby clubs participated in a physical

activity programme offering opportunities for

females to increase awareness of good nutrition,

develop physical health, connect with other

participants from a range of backgrounds and

develop links with their local rugby club.

In December, Ulster Rugby, the Irish FA and Ulster GAA

launched the

‘Sport Uniting Communities Strategic

Framework’

document. The partnership between the

3 largest sporting governing bodies recognises the

collective objectives across areas such as community

development, good relations, club and volunteer

development and acknowledges the strategic value and

impact of working together.

With support from the Public Health Agency, Ulster

Rugby launched its first ever Health and Wellbeing

Strategy entitled

‘Rugby at the Heart of the

Community’

. Ulster Rugby recognises the significant

health benefits associated with participation and

involvement in Rugby Union. Ulster Rugby is committed