It will not have escaped the notice of regular readers that the amount of knowledge and insight usually dispensed when this column turns its attentions to rugby could comfortably be fitted on the back of your average postage stamp. There have, of course, been occasions when a slightly caustic eye has been trained on significant occasions like Ulster's European Cup win two years ago and time was duly served with the sheepskin-clad hordes. But as a rule rugby has gone its own merry way and has seldom strayed into Out of the North territory.
But every now and then this most self-sufficient of sports does send ripples into the wider sporting pond. Last week's decision by the Ulster Branch of the IRFU to appoint South African Alan Solomons as the province's new coach was one of those occasions. His credentials for the job seem more than distinguished and no aspersions are cast on his ability or undoubted expertise. Solomons is clearly a man who has served his time at the highest level and he will, by all accounts, bring considerable insight to his new posting.
But his appointment does raise issues both for those here who are steeped in the game and for the outsider who takes only a casual, peripheral interest in matters rugby. First off there is the small matter of the job he has inherited and the way its nature has changed beyond all definition in the space of a few short years. During the highly successful reign of Harry Williams, the role of Ulster coach has shifted from that of a part-time sinecure to a full-time, all-encompassing post.
The way in which the game itself has evolved from one peopled by enthusiastic amateurs to the current situation where playing and financial success are now at a premium has done much to contribute to the radically altered job description.
Williams himself also did much to alter perceptions of both the role he played and the wider place of the game here. Affable, genial and courteous to a fault, Williams was the acceptable face of modern sports management. Williams did much to broaden the appeal of rugby here and extend its constituency beyond the handful of schools which serve as feeders to the clutch of senior clubs. He was a welcoming, inclusive force at the upper regions of the game and sent out all the right signals to potential converts. During that European Cup run in particular the entire Ulster set-up which Williams presided over served as a template for how a modern sport can sell and market itself to its fullest potential.
The coach was aided and abetted in this by a progressive administrative structure at Ulster branch level, overseen by the chief executive Michael Reid. The situation then was one where Williams' positive message was complemented by an administrator who had a similarly perceptive grasp of the bigger picture.
The switching of games to Friday nights was a masterstroke, as was the related decision to look beyond the confines of the rugby itself and make them genuinely attractive occasions for those taking a first cautious look. The end result was a package with genuine mass appeal. The fact that the team kept winning obviously helped the situation as well.
The cumulative effect was that Ulster rugby travelled a remarkably long way in a short period of time. Suddenly people on the street could hold a cogent conversation on a sport whose charms, up until then, had passed them by. It was a dramatic indication of how quickly change can be effected.
Inevitably that euphoria drained away in the months after the European Cup win in Dublin. There were aftershocks, of course, but in general the equilibrium was restored pretty quickly. The rugby powers that be were then left with a much more significant challenge. How could they build on the inroads that had been made?
The obvious answer was to direct their energies towards the schools. A well thought-out development programme was put in place and for a time it seemed like Ulster rugby was going to cash in on the post-European Cup feel-good factor.
But just as Ulster's performance graph has dipped since the heady days of 1998-99, so too much of that initial off-the-field momentum has been lost. The traditional schools and clubs are still present and correct but there seems little indication that there has been significant movement elsewhere.
And that is why the changing of the guard after the departure of Harry Williams presented such an important opportunity to those who control the game of rugby here. By all accounts the significant rival to Alan Solomons in the contest for the coach's job was Willie Anderson, a local man with a proven track record in getting out there and spreading the rugby gospel. He has a passion for the game that few here can match and it is combined with a vision and a far-reaching perspective that sets him apart from most.
Dungannon, the club at which Anderson presently coaches, is commonly regarded as one of the most progressive in the country. Anderson himself has shown an ecumenism and a feel for other sports, particularly Gaelic football, that automatically makes his rugby club a welcoming and embracing environment for outsiders. Every year the rugby and GAA clubs in Dungannon organise a charity match with one half devoted to each code and Anderson is invariably there in the thick of things. In the closeted world of Northern sport it is an occasion that shines like a beacon.
Anderson would have been a tremendous evangelist and advocate for rugby at every level if he had been chosen as Williams' successor. Solomons is much more likely to be concerned with the hard-nosed business of winning matches, and in opting for him the power-brokers have made it crystal clear that results on the pitch for the senior Ulster side are the bottom line. So be it, but it is impossible not to feel that something has been lost along the way.
