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Ulster are paying a heavy price at the turnstile for their nightmarish year off the pitch

By Liam Heagney
Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Ravenhill wasn’t bursting at the seams when Ulster swooped for their latest Champions Cup win on Friday night. A little over 12,000 people paid in, a third of the 18,000-capacity ground left empty. So much for partisan war-cry of standing up en masse for their beloved Ulstermen.

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You can be taken in by some excuses as to why supporters voted with their feet. The weather was bad. The match was taking place on a night busy with Belfast office Christmas parties.

Truth be told, though, the disappointing attendance was further evidence that Ulster are paying a heavy price for the brand-damaging, haphazard way they conducted business in early 2018. Players and coaches were sacked. The CEO repeatedly ran for cover without sufficiently fronting up. Terrible optics that left a legacy which is now hitting the club in the pocket.

Results-wise, there is little difference between how current boss Dan McFarland is faring compared to last winter under the ousted Les Kiss. McFarland has nine wins and a draw from 14 outings. Kiss had 10 wins and a draw from the same number of matches. All much of a muchness on the pitch then.

Off the pitch, however, it’s a different story. Turnstile evidence of a province disconnected from its paying public. Their first seven home games under Kiss in 2017/18 attracted 102,382 people. Their first seven at home under McFarland? Just 88,227 have turned up, 14,155 down.

Continue reading below…

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It’s a costly 14 percent drop-off. With average ticket prices in Belfast around £29.50 (price range is £14 to £45), Ulster’s gate revenue has potentially collapsed by as much as £400,000. Enough of a wedge to fund the annual salary of two-and-a-half first-team players.

Excuses can be made why their cumulative PRO14 attendance is 8,474 below what it was at this stage of the season a year ago, a troubling 1,254 people less attending this October’s home derby with Connacht compared to the same fixture 12 months earlier.

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However, something must be fundamentally wrong when gates for the European home matches against Leicester and Scarlets attracted 5,661 people less than last winter’s Champions Cup games versus Wasps and Harlequins. Similar standard UK opposition, but fewer people cheering them along.

What gives? It’s obvious their reputation remains dented by last spring’s various going-ons. They were sloppy in managing the damaging fall-out of the unprecedented Paddy Jackson/Stuart Olding court case.

Sloppy, too, in their coaching ticket reshuffle. Kiss was sacked without proper explanation when it happened. Jono Gibbes quit, claiming he wanted to go home to New Zealand only to caught negotiating a job he went on to take in France. Then McFarland was appointed but not cleanly appointed as he initially was only being released by Scotland for the start of 2019 before compromise was reached.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
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All the while, CEO Shane Logan, who ambitiously stated at the start of his reign in 2010 that his plan was to make Ulster the world’s leading rugby club, failed to illustrate strong leadership to dilute the crisis. The administrator eventually fell on his sword at the end of a season where Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll trenchantly described them as a ‘basket-case’ province.

Not that it has all been doom and gloom for a business that became the most talked about in Ireland for all the wrong reasons in early 2018.

McFarland’s fresh approach ensured terrible inter-pro defeats to Munster and Connacht didn’t have a lingering on-field hangover. Meanwhile, long-serving sponsor Kingspan remained onside, the building products manufacturer extending through to 2023 as the club’s principle sponsor.

But there continues to be a troubling state of flux regarding what Ulster aspire to be. They want to showcase the best local rugby talent, yet local identity continues to decline.

When they last lifted a trophy, beating Ospreys in Swansea to clinch Celtic League honours in May 2006, 12 of their starting 15 had taken up the game locally, 18 from 22 when you added in the bench selection.

Come the 2012 European Cup final, local input had reduced to eight of the starting line-up at Twickenham against Leinster. The half-dozen more locals on the bench made it a 14 from 23 figure.

Jacob Stockdale (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Six-and-a-half years later, though, Ulster’s increasing inability to foster their own was illustrated by the origin of the personnel that brushed aside Scarlets in European round four. Just eight of the 23 – a mere four of the starting 15 – were locals. Contrast that to high-flying Leinster, who gave Bath a trouncing with 20 of their 23 growing up in their province.

The lack of identity grates. Former coach Brian McLaughlin, unceremoniously dumped as team boss following the 2012 European final, cites failings at grassroots level for the shortfall. He believes the funding of more Ulster-employed coaches and development officers is needed to combat constraints on teachers in the schools rugby system and the growth in popularity of the Northern Ireland soccer side.

This battle for hearts and minds shouldn’t be so difficult. In Rory Best, Ulster have the current Ireland skipper on their books. In Jacob Stockdale, they possess one of the most exciting talents to emerge anywhere in the world in recent years. His Friday night finish against Scarlets was sublime, enabling Ulster retake a lead they never lost.

What the club badly needs is a period of stability. One CEO, two directors of rugby, four head coaches and multiple assistants have moved on since that cup final appearance in London 79 months ago. That’s quite an upheaval, a merry-go-round that will have McFarland fearing he will become another casualty unless he is given the right level of support to evolve his fledgling reign.

Putting the Ulster back into Ulster and winning back the approval of stay-away fans is an immense challenge in a climate where they are dismissively described as Leinster Lite, a squad with a growing chunk of players who learned their trade in Dublin, not in or around the Belfast area.

Rory Best (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Iain Henderson admitted a year ago they were trying to take remedial steps, a culture committee being formed to enhance the local knowledge of Ulster’s imports.

‘Once or twice a month we get past players coming in for a chat, so the lads get a feel for what it means for local players and what it meant for them to play for Ulster and how proud they were wearing a white jersey, building all that around our club ethos, trying to work hard for each other and being more of a team rather than being a collection of players,’ he explained.

‘We’re quite proud of our values and what we have got in terms of our fanbase, the facilities we have got, but also the history behind the club.’

That history became tainted by the stressful months which followed, but three wins from four has given them a chance of European progress for the first time since 2014. Qualification would surely help win back some lost support, but it’s easier said than done. Kiss went into Christmas last year with three wins from four, but failed to get Ulster into the last eight.

The pressure will be on rookie boss McFarland to ensure his similarly good approach work doesn’t go to waste in January.

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

40 Go to comments
A
Adrian 12 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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