Ulster Rugby vs Exeter Chiefs

SHANE LOGAN DISCUSSES

Ulster Rugby Chief Executive, Shane Logan, discusses some of the current talking points of rugby within the Province…

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 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 be investment into clubs and schools. Growth needed in the club game…

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

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