URSC AGM and other matters.

People’s perception of events are wonderful in their variety. I got this apt little joke texted through this morning:

“Great another Saturday. I’ve been to the gym, had a nice hot shower and I’ve just picked up a bottle of home brew off a neighbour for this afternoon.

I’ve a few spliffs rolled up for the XBox tournament with the lads, then I’ll have a few games of pool then watch a DVD on my 42” plasma after which I’ll muck about online with some porn and gambling sites …

I fucking love prison!”

My perception of Wednesday night’s event may vary considerably from the other attendees in the URSC AGM but here it is for what its worth!

I’d been looking forward to going to the URSC AGM for some time now, well since it was announced that “The Three Wise Men” leading Ulster Rugby would be there to answer questions on absolutely anything. There have been lots of scurrilous rumours doing the rounds about Logan, Humphreys and McLaughlin and now here’s a chance for them to put the record straight.

However what we were served up last night was a long way short of what I was expecting.

Starters:

The starting course consisting of URSC AGM had a slightly bitter taste.

Arriving late we made our way into a rather small and sweaty corner room that created a particularly poor first impression, as did the tiny crowd of 40 odd.

The figures provided pushed the mood down even further. Only 800 odd members and a downward spiralling take up year after year. The only trip that is profitable is the jaunt to Dublin and financial losses on the rest.

You’ve got to feel for the Committee of the UAFC. This is the fourth or fifth URSC event I’ve been to and it must be so dispiriting that time after time so few out of what must be around 20,000 fairly regular supporters can bother to turn out.

I can fully understand the disheartening effect when trip after trip has to be cancelled due to lack of interest but perhaps the URSC could change their tack and work on organising meeting places on away trips, meet up with opposition fans home and away, be a focal point for organising shared transport to and from airports and perhaps even help organise busses from outlying towns to Ravenhill for home games.

However there is no point in moaning at these volunteers and supporters should be aware that you get the organisation that you disserve and in all honesty the turn out at URSC events is so low that you feel it is no longer worthwhile for these people to continue to waste their time, just do a ballot at £10 a head for the international ticket draw and all the money goes to young player development.

The main course:

The main course of Logan and Humphreys was all nouvelle cuisine. Nice to look at but no substance. It definitely left me wanting more.

During the twenty minutes spent trying and failing to get the overhead projector working a few more punters slipped in bringing the turnout to about 50 and the stifling atmosphere in the cramped room got worse.

It’ll all be worth it when we hear what they have to say I told myself. Unfortunately from what we subsequently heard Ulster Rugby appears to be going forward on a wing on a prayer in full expectation that it’ll be all right on the night. Unfortunately, as the projector incident ably demonstrated, shit happens and it’s best to be prepared.

Eventually the man of the moment Shane Logan got up to speak, his first words timed to perfectly correspond with the onset of a fairly loud and continual hubbub from the room next door. They definitely seemed to be having a better time than we were, and it did get distractingly loud so I didn’t quite catch everything that was said, but here’s the gist:

Lots of rhetoric about “best in the world”, “growing from the roots up”, “Heineken Cup quarter finals in two years”, “top four finish in two years”, basically the same old guff that we hear every year around this time. Unfortunately a lot of the gloss was taken off his performance through lack of content and considerable panic when pulled up on his facts. Let’s hope this emperor manages to appear fully clothed throughout his tenure.

There was some stuff of interest.

• Government money should be available to complete Ravenhill re-development shortly. Plans are in place and it is expected that due to downturn in the economy that planning permission will be forthcoming. Capacity to increase to 15,000. Expected timescale 2 – 5 years.
• An unknown source of an indeterminate sum of money has come forward to allow increased development of the Academy players?
• Plenty of talking about the talking they’ve done ‘bout improving the club game but didn’t actually put anything forward that I could gather.
• They appear to have finally realised the thing that every Ulster supporter has been saying for the past 10 years. Get the cars out of Ravenhill and bring in facilities for the supporters. So expect a few more stalls in the car park end from next season on.

That’s about it and thankfully the redevelopment money and the “indeterminate sum from an unknown source” don’t depend on European qualification. This may be very much what saves us from hitting the depths of despair if things go pear shape as this money and redevelopment makes Ulster very attractive in a sleeping giant sort of way. No debts to speak off and a nice new stadium. If things don’t work out with Team Logan there are plenty of very capable concerns who would be more than happy to take over.

The Humph then got up and took us through the transfer dealings.

There was a lot of information about the constraints that Ulster Rugby have to operate under, but at the end of the day I think that we all should remember that, financially at least, they have it easier than most.

The squad is increasing from 31 to 33 and basically we’ve 31 signed.

• Boss and O’Donoghue were dispatched to make way for better players, as they weren’t up to the standard required. (Seems strange this considering that both aren’t good enough for Ulster but are good enough for the Europeans Champions?). Ed is making way for Muller and Boss making way for, well, no one at the minute.
• Barker is replacing McCullough and Rush is replacing Houra. Rush is there primarily as a stand in for Ferris at 6 for when he’s away on international duty.
• One foreign player has to be re-signed by regulations so it was a toss up between Nagusa and Danielli and the Scot got the nod.
• No scrum half signed (other than the three on the books, Willis, Marshall and Porter) and another position in the backs still unfilled. Humphreys is confident that an international class scrum half will be signed by the start of next season. (Whether they’ll be an upgrade on Boss is another matter!)

There is however an overall strategy and that is rightly to improve our ball winning capabilities up front by bringing in a bit of experience in the form of Muller and Rush. All well and good provided these two remain injury free and that we get a scrum half capable of exploiting the possession. That’s a fairly big risk given recent history and add in the facts that we’ve no scrum half signed and an inexperienced coaching team.

The desert:

We were really only getting to sample the desert before it was snatched from under us.

Things were opened up for questions but unbeknown to us we were on a time limit as Humphreys and McLaughlin had a fast car waiting out back to whisk them to Dublin.

So much time had been wasted pissing about with the overhead projector that no real questions of note relating to the future well being of Ulster Rugby or the quality of our management team were asked.

You will be glad to know though that our current form is all down to Scottish Referees and our team have been instructed about how to walk up to them in a non threatening manner – unfortunately they seem to be confusing the referees with the opponents at the minute.

So there we go, a few tasty titbits from last nights feast. Mr Logan is obviously a “Big Picture” man full of grand ideas and proposals as to how Ulster are going to scale their own Everest on their way to world domination.

However, while we are all admiring the panoramic view from our lofty heights, someone has to keep their eye on the details and it was the lack of attention to details that really worried me last night – all minor things but all annoying and indicative of the low expectations in PR and administration that have dragged Ulster down over the years.

More like this:

• Little Big Horn Looms
• URSC AGM. Important Notice.
• SUFTUMism
• The Rise of the 3rd Team and more …