Pause and Engage – Snow joke?

We’re asking you to take a bit of time to pause and engage (no need to crouch) with one of the key issues in Ulster Rugby with counterpoint pieces from our regular contributors.

This week Dewi and Rambler look at the highly publicised issue of pitch clearance. Publicity disaster or team building masterstroke? Read the pieces below and leave your vote.

FOR

Wasn’t it fantastic that Ulster’s supporters came up trump’s not once, but twice in Ulster’s hour of need to help the overstretched ground staff clear the pitch so that this weekend’s Heineken Cup match against Bath can go ahead as planned.

I found something rather charming about the way Ulster felt they could reach out to the fans in this manner and it’s good to see that the fans were not found wanting. It’s a positive comment on the strong bond of mutual co-operation that has been built up between the Supporters Club and the CEO over the last season.

Those supporters involved will enjoy a well deserved feeling of satisfaction as they watch on from the Terrace or Prom this weekend knowing that they played a real part in Ulster’s win, for win it will surely be.

You could tell from his interview on the BBC that “jaded old professional” Johann Muller was visibly moved by the effort of the supporter and it’s factors like this that can make all the difference, encouraging the players to push for that one great effort of their own.

Forget about losing a bit of momentum through the cancellation of the Dragons match, we’ve gained far more as this effort has shown every new import what it means to be an Ulsterman and what the Red Hand means to the supporters.

AGAINST

I wonder how many possible sponsors have been beatig a path to Ulster Rugby’s door the last few days after the kack handed approach to pitch clearance was televised last night.

No disrespect to the willing volunteers (who have been shamelessly taken advantage off in my opinion) but this is a company with a turnover of £7 to £8 million a season, has just signed (allegedly) the much trumpeted “biggest shirt sponsorship deal in the history of the world” but hasn’t the readies or the ability to handle a couple of weeks of frosty weather, instead relying on the good nature of the put upon supporter to help out.

Speaking to some of the “non-rugby” public who caught the skit on the news last night the overwhelming opinion was that it was poor, no very poor, publicity for a company that claims to be the leading sports franchise in this wee province. Pictures of disorganised fat men with plastic shovels throwing snow in the back of a tractor is the enduring image beamed out to tens of thousands of floating supporters.

Those of a certain age will remember the novelty news piece at the end of Nationwide – you know the sort of thing a talking cat or a fish riding a bicycle – and this came across as the same sort of risible report.

Ulster Rugby would be looking to bank £400,000 from the cancelled Dragons game and the Bath game and a fair portion of that is already in the bank due to advance ticket sales giving Ulster Rugby some sort of obligation to make sure that these games go ahead. They have failed with one and look to be cutting things very finely with the second!

Irrespective of whether the game goes ahead on Saturday at Ravenhill or elsewhere the damage has already been done to Ulster’s reputation off the pitch and more than likely their chances on it.

The Dragons game was a vital game in my opinion both in terms of maintaining winning momentum and in integrating the return of the internationals – something we have failed to do successfully season after season. The fact that this multi-million pound organisation with aspirations to “World Domination” can be so unprepared for a predicted and forecast weekend of snow is bad enough, however the fact that they so meekly coughed up that vital Dragons game to some meaningless time in the future is worse.

Let us know what you think below.

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