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10
SHANE LOGAN
Improvements since 2010…
Thanks to funding from the NI Executive, we
now have a stadium that has given us the
infrastructure to host big matches and have
large attendances which are necessary to be
competitive. The stadium facilities for training,
strength and condition, and medical provision are
right up there.
We have moved from the lower end of the
rankings of professional teams in Europe towards
the top end, but we still have a long way to go.
I think our coaching is excellent and is improving
all the time. I think our succession planning, by
way of developing strength-in-depth, is also
continually developing. We have heavily increased
our investment into our Academy and sub-
Academy and that is starting to come through.
So I think the main pillars of the professional
game are in place. I think the next phase needs to
be investment into clubs and schools.
Growth needed in the club game…
We are owned by our clubs and schools, we
are not privately owned, so we exist to serve the
grassroots game.
The club game has grown moderately over the
last 5 or 6 years, but not enough. We have helped
to install over 20 new community gyms in places
across the Province, including many existing
rugby clubs and rugby-playing schools. There
is considerable funding being attracted to some
clubs but that needs to be a focus over the next 5
or 10 years to ensure sustainable growth.
As a senior Ulster side we are only allowed five
players who are not qualified to play for Ireland
and so we have to generate the overwhelming
bulk of players ourselves. For the future of the
senior team and for what we’re about, which is
clubs and schools, we’ve got to improve.
The quest for silverware…
In the 2012/13 season we led the league for 16
weeks out of 22, we earned the right to have a
home final but because the stadium was being
redeveloped and we had to play away in Leinster
and lost narrowly. Losing away to Glasgow the
season before last, where we would have had a
home final, was very difficult to take.
So I think we have come agonisingly close
and if we can get some good fortune and the
bounce of a ball to go our way, we will be there
or thereabouts this season. We have got to keep
growing and building for the future and if you can
continue to improve and learn faster than the
opposition, trophies will come.
The 2023 Rugby World Cup bid…
The Rugby World Cup Bid Board has been
in place for two years now. From an Ulster
perspective, David Dobbin, Mike Thompson and
Dame Mary Peters and myself sit on it and we
have been working to understand what World
Rugby want and to understand the learnings from
the World Cup in England last year.
We must ensure that our offering is better than
our two main rivals - France and South Africa. We
have a joint all-Ireland bid but in this jurisdiction
we are working closely with the government to
ensure the bricks and mortar exceed expectation,
including Casement Park, and training bases.
World Rugby have issued their specification
for stadiums, we can at the minute meet their
demands, assuming Casement is up and running
a Tier 1 international can be held in a stadium
with a capacity of 30,000. In a few months they
will issue the requirements of the training bases
and we will work with the NI Executive here to
deliver top quality facilities.
The work is ongoing - the decision will be made
in November 2017, and if we’re successful, that
is when the real work will begin to ensure we can
deliver a World Cup that is the best ever.
The Ulster Rugby brand…
Our merchandise sales are very strong, our
sponsorship income is right up there when
compared to other teams in the UK and Ireland,
and we have high attendances throughout the
season. It’s because people want to support,
invest in, and be associated with the Ulster Rugby
cause.
SHANE LOGAN
DISCUSSES
Ulster Rugby Chief Executive, Shane Logan, discusses some of the current
talking points of rugby within the Province…