At the start of this season, our Youth Section was in quite a mess. The U-18 were in a state of disarray, with no-one to coach them, both the U-14 and U-16 had only about 8 players available, with very few properly registered with the IRFU, and a negligible number with ID Cards issued as required. Then Tom Wiggins was appointed as our Youth Development Officer, and he also took on the role of Youth Convenor, as well as coaching the Under-16. He gained admission into 11 local non-rugby playing schools and began to recruit players, with the result that the U-14 and the U-16 finished the season each with over 30 players in their squad.
The Under-18, without a coach for most of the season, had a difficult time, and struggled to find a team. Understandably, they ended up bottom of the North-East league, winning only one of their 9 games played. However, Tom, in spite of taking the Under-16, spent as much time as he could with the 18s, and later in the season was assisted in coaching by Jack Gibson, with the result that 10-12 boys remained loyal, and should be the nucleus of a much more successful squad next season. In spite of their restricted exposure, Danny McKendry, Rowan Leslie, Mark Wiggins and Jarrod Bowes, all made the Ulster U-17 squad.
The Under-16 was a very good side who ended top of the North-East League, winning all their games. This took them into the play-offs but there they lost to Banbridge in the final. They also had a very successful tour to Sale, where they won both their games without conceding a single point. Matthew Mulholland, William Robinson, Adam Smith, Sam Hamilton, Gary Donnelly, Lee Purdy and James Reid all made the Ulster squad.
The Under-14, coached by Sean Bowes, assisted by Kelly Kerr, with 7 victories in 8 games, shared the North-Eastern Regional League with Ballyclare, narrowly losing out in the play-off, and reached the semi-final of the Cup, although this was mostly due to administrative errors by the opposition.
After the misdemeanours of last year’s U-18, and with the subsequent severe penalty imposed by the Branch, we resolved this season that all our Youth sides would strictly adhere to all Registration Regulations, and that we would report any opposing clubs who did not do likewise. This we did, which did not make us very popular, with either other clubs, or the Branch personnel. However, we persisted in our approach, and before the season we were eventually receiving both respect and support for our stance. In his role of Youth Convenor, Tom Wiggins, assisted by Sean Bowes and Kelly Kerr, gathered the necessary information so that we were one of the very few clubs in Ulster who had all Youth players properly registered, with appropriate ID Cards issued. Tom recently won the Club Person of the Year Award, which was an honour he richly deserved. read on
