Ulster Rugby Annual Report

— Department for Communities. ‘Home for Lifelong Volunteering Programme’ which has delivered its seventh successful year of Club and volunteer development focussed activity in conjunction with the Irish FA and Ulster GAA. Funding to the value of £40,000 contributed to the employment of two dedicated roles up until the 31st March 2019. An application has been approved by the Department for the continuation of the project into 2019/20. In addition, other funds have been accessed throughout the year to support the delivery of specific projects. These have included: — SEUPB Peace IV. Ulster Rugby, in partnership with the Irish FA and Ulster GAA, secured £1.6 million (£0.5 million to Ulster Rugby) for a symbolic and unique cross-border project entitled ‘Sport Uniting Communities’ which utilises sport to promote good relations and reconciliation across the nine counties of Ulster. The project commenced at the end of 2017 and will be delivered across a four-year period to August 2021. The collaboration project hopes to reach seventeen thousand people of differing backgrounds, particularly across the political divide, with the aim of changing perceptions and building sustained relationships. — The Executive Office. £28,500 was awarded to deliver a project entitled, “Uniting through Rugby”, aimed at improving good relations and enhancing positive attitudes amongst young people through rugby. Twenty Primary Schools and five hundred pupils from across Belfast engaged in cultural tours around the Kingspan Stadium, good relations workshops in the Nevin Spence Centre and values based rugby activities at local School venues. One teacher commented, “We’ve had a brilliant day and really enjoyed the visit from staff as well as the coaching sessions. It was a really enjoyable programme, the kids mixed well and we would love to be involved again”. — Public Health Agency and Active Belfast. A total of £36,000 of funding was secured to run a number of projects, aimed at enhancing the physical and mental health of various population groups across four activities of X7s, UR Game, Walking Rugby and Pitch Up and Play, each of which has been described in the Health and Well-being section above. — Heritage Lottery Fund. Circa £50,000 was awarded to undertake a one-year development phase of the ‘Your Club Your History’ project. This has allowed the organisation to recruit a Heritage Development Manager who has engaged with stakeholders, consulted with Clubs and shaped the project for a further application which will seek funds for a three year delivery phase. If successful, this investment will be used to work directly with Clubs to capture, archive, celebrate and showcase the memories and records of almost one hundred and forty years of rugby union history in Ulster. Work is ongoing on the delivery phase application which will be submitted late 2019/early 2020 for some £250,000. — Northern Ireland Screen and Bank of Ireland. In total, approximately £30,000 was invested in a collaboration project with local firm, RETiniZE, to

In addition to the delivery of formal courses, coaches have also been supported in several other ways including: — Age-grade Coaching programme. Targeting age- grade teams in Schools, rugby development staff worked with coaches in 100% of the Schools of Ireland, 75% of our High Schools and 97% of age- grade clubs within Ulster. This resulted in coaches and their development being supported through active involvement in over five hundred practical rugby sessions throughout the season. — Regional Rugby Forums. These forums have continued to provide a mechanism for our regional staff to best support the specific needs and requirements of our School and Club coaches. This has allowed regional staff to prioritise development opportunities throughout the season with over thirty forums being hosted with in excess of two hundred Club and School representatives attending. — Coach Development Workshops. Through staff engagement with coaches we have supported coaches’ development with workshops delivered across a variety of stages and topics. These have allowed us to promote good coaching practice and to filter technical and tactical themes from Professional staff into the Domestic game. A breakdown of stage and delivery is shown below:

LTPD Stage

Number of Workshops

Number of Attendee Coaches

Stage 1 Stage 2

12

264

6 5

76

Stage 3 & 4

116 456

Total

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Funding To support the development of Rugby within Ulster, the IRFU (Ulster Branch) continues to work hard to identify and secure additional sources of funding to grow its own programmes and to support our affiliated Clubs and Schools. The IRFU remains the largest financial supporter of the Domestic game through the provision of an annual Service Level Agreement which contributes to the deployment of a significant number of development officers across the province. In addition, funding has also been received from a number of other organisations to support the deployment of specific staff including: — Sport Northern Ireland. ‘Sporting Clubs’ programme which supports three posts within the Domestic game. This funding continues from the previous ‘Performance Focus’ programme in contributing the lion’s share of funding for the Rugby Development Manager, Rugby Operations Manager and Female Rugby Coordinator roles, all of which are integral to the support of Domestic rugby in Ulster.

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IRFU ULSTER BRANCH ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19