Ulster Rugby Annual Report

Charity The Society was pleased, on the recommendation of our President Adrian Millar, to offer support to Diabetes UK as our nominated charity for 2018/19. Support It must be recorded that the Society is grateful to those professionals who have striven to support it during this season. David Wilkinson is now IRFU National Referee Manager, while the IRFUs Kevin Beggs and Dudley Phillips continue to contribute as an Ulster resource. A great deal of credit goes to the leadership during this difficult year of Chairman Tim Lowry and to Roger Cleave, Neil Stewart and Peter Martin on the management team. The past fourteen months have been challenging and much work still remains to be done. The Society officers and management team are very mindful that they front a magnificent band of volunteers who, under ever increasing demands, all strive to the best of their abilities to service our sport, our Union and our Branch. Without a referee there is simply no game, and without the work of our volunteers in support of the aims of the Society there would be no referees. We value and acknowledge all of their efforts and service to the game of rugby. SCHOOLS RUGBY Ulster Schools Report In 2018/19 much of the work of the Schools’ Committee centred on the ‘Age-Grade Review’, with Gareth McClintock (RS Dungannon) and Raymond Pattison (RBAI) representing the Committee on the Ulster Branch Age-Grade Working Party. The work began in earnest following feedback from the Inside Track Sports Consultants in October which brought forward a number of recommendations for Ulster Rugby. On the Schools’ front the main changes would see some School players, in certain defined circumstances, become eligible for the Ulster U18 Youth team and the potential restructuring of the Schools’ Cup which would take on a Champions Cup type qualifying group stages for most Schools, thus providing some additional Schools’ Cup fixtures pre-Christmas. Six ‘non-exempt’ Schools whose players are not eligible for the Ulster U18 Youth team will automatically qualify for the last sixteen of the Schools’ Cup. For 2019/20 the ‘non-exempt’ Schools are Ballymena Academy, Campbell College, Methodist College, RBAI, RS Armagh and Wallace HS. The Danske Bank Schools’ competitions were dominated by Methodist College who appeared in all four finals, winning the Schools’ Cup, the 3rd XV Cup and the Medallion Shield, whilst sharing the 2nd XV Cup with Campbell College. Methody also celebrated their 150th anniversary and as part of the celebrations they organized a very successful sixteen team, two-day tournament featuring teams from throughout Ireland, a team from Wales and one from England. St Michael’s College Dublin won the Eric Lindsay Memorial Trophy. Eric who taught Economics in the school for many years was a long-time supporter of Methodist College rugby and a key member of their fund raising committee. He

was working part time in The Royal School Dungannon when he died suddenly in June 2018. A total of seventeen Schools were represented in the various 15-a-side finals and nine different Schools returned home with silverware. Sullivan Upper, Coleraine GS and Dromore HS won the Subsidiary Shield, Bowl and Trophy respectively. This was the first time that Dromore HS had appeared in a final since the School introduced a Sixth Form and they began entering the Schools’ Cup a few seasons ago. Congratulations to them on their success. Coleraine GS won the 2nd XV Plate and the 3rd XV Plate was shared between Sullivan Upper and Rainey ES. Grosvenor GS, Omagh Academy and Enniskillen RGS won the Medallion Plate, Bowl and Trophy respectively. The Senior Sevens was won by Campbell College, the Junior Sevens by RS Armagh and the Medallion Sevens by Ballymena Academy. Thanks are expressed to the Governors, Principals and Staff of the Schools along with the Presidents and Committees of Clubs who hosted these and other fixtures. Thanks also to the Representatives of Danske Bank and the Ulster Branch who made the presentations and to the USRFR for their provision of referees. It is also noted that they were able to provide assistant referees for the latter stages of several competitions as well as the majority of finals. A particular thanks to Campbell College, John McKinney and his team of helpers for hosting and running the Sevens Tournament. Thanks also to the staff at the Ulster Branch for their help with the running of competitions. Schools’ rugby is well supported by our sponsors, Danske Bank, who have supported Schools’ rugby including the Ulster U18 Schools Inter-Provincial team financially for the past fourteen years. The successful running of these competitions fell to Stephen Black, Brian Leslie, Ross Hunter and John Andrews as competition secretaries for the Danske Bank Schools’ Cup, 2nd XV Cup, 3rd XV Cup and Medallion Shield respectively with much support behind the scenes from Alan McGonigle, whose contribution as PRO was critical to ensuring that Ulster Schools’ Rugby was promoted on a weekly basis, not just within Ulster, but also to the wider Irish Rugby community and beyond. The support and assistance of the Ulster rugby publicity staff, Richard Finlay, Neil Hanna and Damian Kelly is really appreciated. There were also many other local and invitational tournaments run mainly at Medallion level and below which provided much wanted competitive matches for this age range. Their continuation and possible expansion in the future is encouraged. E-teamsheets have continued to be a focus for the Schools’ Committee and the completion rate has improved significantly. Some Schools have been assisted in this through the introduction by the Ulster Branch of support and incentives for a schoolboy volunteer scheme which also allows those involved to accrue hours when completing e-teamsheets for the Volunteer Now Scheme. There are thirty five Schools in Ulster which benefit from the Schools of Ireland Scheme which puts

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