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The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs.
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.
The culture of Northern Ireland relates to the traditions of Northern Ireland. Elements of the Culture of Ulster, the Culture of Ireland as a whole, the Culture of Scotland and the Culture of England are to be found.
Ravenhill Stadium is a rugby stadium located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home of Ulster Rugby. With the opening of a new stand for the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens on 5 April 2014, the capacity of the stadium is now 18,196. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Jonathan Charles Bell is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played centre for Ulster, with whom he won the 1998–99 Heineken Cup, Northampton and Ireland, and has coached at Ulster, Gloucester, Glasgow Warriors and Worcester Warriors. As of the 2022–23 season he is defence coach at Ulster.
Thomas John Bowe is an Irish television presenter and former rugby union player from County Monaghan, Ireland. He played on the wing for Ulster, Ospreys, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
Rugby union is a popular team sport on the island of Ireland, organised on an all-Ireland basis, including players and teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), was founded in 1875, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland), which were both founded in 1871.
Rory David Best is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC. Best earned 124 caps for Ireland, making his debut in 2005 and retiring at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, his fourth World Cup. Best is one of the most capped rugby players of all time, as well as the most-capped forward to represent Ireland.
Mark Conn McCall is an Irish professional rugby union coach and former player, who is the current director of rugby of Premiership Rugby club Saracens. Arriving as an assistant in 2009 and taking charge of the first-team in 2011, he is considered one of the greatest club managers of all time and holds the record for the most English championships won with six Premiership trophies. McCall also led Saracens to three European Rugby Champions Cup wins.
Kenneth William Kennedy was an Irish rugby union player who played hooker for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
(William) Denis McBride is a retired Irish rugby union player. He played as an openside wing-forward and earned 32 caps for the Irish national team between 1988 and 1997. He played for the Ireland national rugby sevens team at the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, where Ireland reached the semifinals. He played his club rugby for Malone and provincial rugby for Ulster.
David Humphreys MBE is a former Irish rugby union player. He played 72 times for Ireland, scoring 560 points, including 6 tries, and at the time of his international retirement was Ireland's most capped out-half. He played his club rugby for London Irish and Ulster, winning the 1998-99 Heineken Cup, the 2004 Celtic Cup and the 2005–06 Celtic League with the latter. Since retiring as a player he has served as director of rugby for Ulster and Gloucester, as a performance consultant with the Georgian Rugby Union, and is currently Director of Performance Operations with the England and Wales Cricket Board. He will succeed David Nucifora as the IRFU Performance Director in 2024.
David Patrick Lindsay James "Paddy" Jackson is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland who plays for Lyon OU; in the Top 14, in France. He primarily plays at fly-half and previously played for Irish provincial club Ulster in the Pro12, as well as for French club Perpignan and most recently Gallagher Premiership side London Irish.
Maurice Field is a former Irish rugby union international player who played as a centre for North of Ireland, Malone, Ulster and Ireland.
Sir William Ewart Bell was an Irish Rugby Union player and civil servant who became a Rugby Union administrator later in life. He was President of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Chair of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He was Permanent Secretary at the United Kingdom Northern Ireland Office from 1979–84, a time marked by Republican hunger strikes.
Robert Patrick Herring is a professional rugby union player who plays as a hooker for United Rugby Championship club Ulster. Born in South Africa, he represents Ireland at international level after qualifying on ancestry grounds.
Stuart McCloskey is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland, who plays as a centre for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team.
Dan McFarland is an English rugby union coach and former player. He was head coach of Ulster Rugby from 2018 to 2024.
The 1995–96 season was Ulster Rugby's first season under professionalism. Brian Bloomfield was in his second season as coach. 35-year-old Malone RFC centre Bill Harbinson, who first played for Ulster in 1986, was captain, in his final season before retirement from the game. They played six representative matches, defeating Griqualand West, New Zealand Federation U23 and New South Wales, and losing to a Côte Basque Select XV, the Combined Services and Edinburgh District. They finished second behind Leinster in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship. They were one of three Irish provinces entered into the inaugural Heineken Cup, losing both their pool matches against Cardiff and Bègles-Bordeaux.
The 1996–97 Ulster Rugby season was Ulster's second season under professionalism, during which they competed in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship and the Heineken Cup.
References
- ↑ "Debut holds no fears for new prop Paul". Sunday Independent . 9 February 1986.
- ↑ "No sentiment by selectors". Irish Independent . 6 February 1986.
- ↑ "Kennedy's career in doubt". Belfast News-Letter . 18 October 1986.