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The Committee has pleasure in presenting the 136th Annual Report and Statement of
Accounts for 2015-16.
ULSTER BRANCH REPORT
INTRODUCTION
The 2015-16 season has been a strange one with a
number of highlights and unfortunately a number of
lows. Prior to the start of the season, a major highlight
was the official opening of Nevin Spence Centre by
the DCAL Minister Carál Ní Chuilín. Ulster Rugby was
delighted that Nevin’s mother Essie and sisters Emma
and Laura were present for the opening and all were
moved by the dignified and emotive speech given by
Nevin’s sister Emma.
Notwithstanding the disappointment of Ireland’s exit
at the quarter-final stage of the RWC 2015 and the
rather mixed Six Nations Campaign, the expectation
of success in Ulster was, as ever, high at the start of
the season. Whilst there were some excellent home
performances in the PRO12 League, Ulster’s away form
remains a bit of a concern. This, coupled with two very
narrow defeats at home to the Scarlets and Munster
meant that the team had to wait until the last league
game to confirm fourth place in the PRO12 League and
a play-off berth. The play-off against old rivals Leinster
at RDS was a tight affair but unfortunately Ulster could
not find the good form they had shown in the last four
league games and lost by 30-18.
In the European Champions Cup, Ulster’s first match
was to have been away to Oyonnax in November. This
was also to have been the first match when all the
returning Ireland World Cup players were available.
Whilst the team, officials and supporters received a
tremendous reception by the locals, the weekend will
be remembered for the terrorist atrocities in Paris.
The cancellation of the game, which was the correct
decision in the circumstances, meant that the Saracens
game was the first time that a number of our players
had turned out for Ulster this season and unfortunately
it was not the best of performances. That said, there
were notable highlights in the European campaign
with a superb win away at Toulouse and a remarkable
comeback win away to Oyonnax where the Ulster team
came from 23-0 down early in the second half to win 24-
23. Bonus point victories over these two French sides at
home should have seen Ulster make the quarter-finals
if they were able to get anything from the two Saracens
games. However, Saracens proved too strong in both
games and Ulster narrowly missed out on a quarter-final
place. It should be noted that none of the Irish provinces
made it through to the European knockout stage which
is a concern.
Ulster’s cause was not helped by a larger than normal
injury profile which left the squad without a number
of key players for long periods. With Les Kiss now
established in his role of Director of Rugby and a
number of exciting signings for next season, the Ulster
supporters will once again start the new season full of
expectation.
On the domestic front, it has been a memorable season
for the Bangor club who secured an outstanding four
domestic successes in winning the Millar McCall
Wylie Junior Cup, the Powerade Towns Cup, the Kukri
Qualifying 1 League and the Conference League 1. In
the All Ireland Round Robin series Bangor continued
their rich vein of form and won promotion back into the
All Ireland League.
In the All Ireland League, it has not been a great
season for the Ulster clubs. Ballynahinch, who found
themselves at the bottom of Division 1A for most of the
season, put in some excellent performances in the last
few games but came up just short and were relegated
in the play-offs. Banbridge and City of Derry led their
respective leagues for long periods but, unfortunately,
eventually failed to gain promotion. Belfast Harlequins
and Rainey both had difficult seasons and suffered
relegation.
In Ulster domestic competitions, the First Trust Senior
Cup was won by Ballynahinch and the Senior League
was won by Ballymena. The McCrea Cup went to Cooke
and the Crawford Cup was won by Ballynahinch 3rd
XV. Congratulations are due to all those teams gained
success at the various levels within our domestic
programme. A full list of league and cup winners can be
found in Appendix C and D.
ULSTER BRANCH GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
In another busy year for both the Branch and
Management Committees, the active management of
the professional game and commercial matters has
continued however there has been, in the last year,
a much greater focus on initiatives to strengthen and
develop the domestic game. As reported last year,
there had been a 10% reduction in adult teams in the
previous 5 years and demographic information had
shown that there has been an 18% drop in the available
population that could play adult rugby during this
period. The Management Committee had instigated
the development of a pilot scheme with the purpose of
offering practical assistance to clubs in order to review
and appraise current practices, share and promote
good practices and develop a clearer sense of future
purpose for clubs. To date the scheme has been
identifying the issues and challenges that clubs are
facing and from this, it has promoted the development
and sharing of advice and guidance on good practices.
The pilot scheme involves 8 clubs but the information
on good practices is now being shared with the other
clubs and is being incorporated into the various
workshops that the Branch runs for club volunteers. The
pilot scheme is continuing and will be expanded in due
course. It is very much a process of helping clubs to
help themselves.
On the financial front, it is pleasing to see the Treasurer
report a small surplus of some £70k given that the
initial budget forecasts for 2015-16 were predicting
a loss of some £600k. This improved position has
largely resulted from good cost control and additional
growth in commercial income brought about by the
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