Volunteer Recognition Event 2019

Ulster Rugby recently hosted the 2019 Volunteer Recognition Event at Kingspan Stadium, which was supported by SONI (Ltd) and the Department for Communities’ ‘Sport: a Home for lifelong Volunteering’ programme. This event was created to recognise the fantastic work that all rugby volunteers do for the betterment of our sport, and for volunteers to get the opportunity to chat with players and staff while enjoying some light refreshments. This year, Bryn Cunningham, Dan McFarland and Matty Rea attended along with Ulster Women players Ella Durkan and Pieta McAlister, all of whom were available for photos and chatted to our volunteers. Clubs and schools were asked to nominate their volunteers to attend the event and we were delighted to receive over 270 nominations from 33 clubs and 13 schools across the province. We had nominations for a huge array of volunteer roles including those who coach, referee, look after kit, organise transport, carry out administration and make tea and sandwiches after the game for players and visitors. We also had nominations for our Young Goldmark Volunteers, as well as our match night volunteers. All nominated volunteers who attended the event were presented with Gold Certificates (in recognition of volunteering in rugby) and an Ulster match ticket from Stephen Elliott, President of the IRFU (Ulster Branch), as a thank you for their volunteering services to rugby. We also presented two Volunteer Champion awards (in recognition of extraordinary achievements in volunteering in rugby); one to Aly Finlay for her work in female rugby and one to Andrew Cowden for his work in schools rugby. Commenting on the night, Mr Elliott said, “Without you and the other volunteers who are not here this evening, rugby in Ulster could not survive.” Nick Fullerton, Director at SONI (Ltd), also spoke of the importance of volunteering and its impact on clubs and communities. He also spoke about the new look ‘Real Rugby Heroes’ Award - previously the ‘Community Champions Award’ – and encouraged everyone to get their nominations in for volunteers from mini, youth rugby and adult rugby. Each winning volunteer will receive £1,000 for their club. Two runners up will also receive a £500 bursary and all four finalists will attend the gala Ulster Rugby Awards dinner at the end of the season, where the winners will be announced. For further information about the 'Real Rugby Heroes' award, please click here. We would just like to take this opportunity to thank all clubs and schools for nominating their volunteers, and we offer special thanks to all volunteers for their time and dedication to our sport.