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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.
The Belfast Royal Academy is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school in north Belfast. The Academy is one of 8 schools in Northern Ireland whose Head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
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.
Ballymena Academy is a mixed gender, voluntary grammar school in the market town of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1828 as a small provincial school for children in the town and surrounding agricultural hinterland.
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is Queen's University, the institution pioneered Belfast's first programme of collegiate education. Locally referred to as Inst, the modern school educates boys from ages 11 to 18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school occupies an 18-acre site in the centre of the city on which its first buildings were erected.
Belfast Harlequins is a multi-sports club located off the Malone Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club name provides the overall umbrella for rugby union, men's and ladies' hockey, and squash. The club is associated on and off the field with Methodist College Belfast (MCB).
Bryn Cunningham is an Irish rugby union administrator and former player. He played fullback for Ulster, making 150 appearances between 1997 and 2010, and was the team's Player of the Year in 2002–2003. Since 2014 he has been responsible for player recruitment at Ulster, initially as Team Manager, later as Operations Director.
Sydney Millar was a Northern Irish rugby union prop who played for Ballymena RFC and Ulster and international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coach and a rugby administrator. He became chairman of the Irish Rugby Union in 1995 and from 2003 until 2007 was chairman of the International Rugby Board. Former Lions captain Willie John McBride stated that Millar had given "his whole life to the game".
Malone RFC is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It is currently in the Division 1B of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football Union. It is one of the last remaining Belfast rugby clubs not to have amalgamated and still plays at its original ground. As well as its successful Senior teams, it has a thriving Youth and Mini structure, and was the first Mini rugby team from Ireland to play in the renowned Fundacion Cisneros International rugby tournament in Madrid.
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.
(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.
Brian McClenahan is a former American rugby union player. McClenahan played both prop and hooker. He represented the USA Eagle XV side in the prop position. His debut for his country was in June 2009 against Wales. He was selected to tour with the USA Eagles squad for the Autumn 2010 tour of Europe. McClenahan played his club rugby for Olympic Club.
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.
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.
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.
Stewart Moore is an Irish rugby union player who plays centre for Ulster. Ulster coach Dan McFarland describes him as "a lovely balanced runner who can cause defences problems". Ulster and Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale calls him " a serious talent ... one of those players where everything seems to come naturally for him. Really good passer, kicker, good feet ... a very, very talented all-rounder".
The 2021–22 season was Ulster Rugby's 28th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's fourth season as head coach. They competed in the inaugural United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The 2019–20 season was Ulster's 26th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's second season as head coach. Lock Iain Henderson was named captain in place of retired hooker Rory Best. They competed in the Pro14 and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Both competitions were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, he later stages being played in August, September and October 2020. In the Pro14, Ulster finished second in Conference A, making the playoffs and qualifying for next season's Champions Cup. They beat Edinburgh in the semi-final, but lost to Leinster in the final. They finished second in Pool 3 in the Champions Cup, qualifying for the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Toulouse.
The 2018–19 season was Ulster's 25th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and Dan McFarland's first season as head coach. Rory Best was captain. They competed in the Pro14, making the semi-finals, and the European Rugby Champions Cup, making the quarter-finals.
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
- ↑ "Sportsman and administrator". Belfast Telegraph . 11 October 1957.
- ↑ "R. O. McClenahan". Ireland's Saturday Night . 12 October 1957.