Presbyterian group object to Sunday tie

Broadcasters Sky television have been asked not to schedule any more home matches at Ulster's home ground at Ravenhill Road on a Sunday.The request, according to yesterday's Belfast Telegraph, was made by a former Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Alastair Dunlop, along with colleagues from the East Belfast Presbytery.

The East Belfast presbytery of the Presbyterian Church represents 27 congregations in the vicinity of the Ravenhill grounds.

The group had requested Sky to reschedule tomorrow's match against Leicester, the first ever to be played at Ravenhill Road on the Sabbath by the senior provincial rugby team, claiming the lunch-time start would disrupt churchgoers in the area.

The decision for the Sunday game prompted the Ulster Branch to issue an apology in advance of the match and it has since undertaken to adopt a low-key approach to what is a sell-out event.

Entertainment before and after the fixture has been curtailed and supporters have been asked to take part in a park-and-ride facility in order to cause minimum traffic disturbance when arriving to and leaving the Belfast ground.

The presbytery wrote to Sky Television, and also to the organisers, European Rugby Cup Ltd, and while the match is going ahead as scheduled, Dr Dunlop said he had received a letter from Vic Wakeling, the managing director of Sky Sports and was impressed by "the tone".

It was reported that Sky said they were new to the competition and were naive about the social, cultural and religious norms that prevailed in Ulster. The network also indicated they would do everything to ensure that a Sunday match would not happen again.

In November of last year history was also made at Queen's University playing fields when for the first time a Premier League hockey match was played on the Sabbath. Again tradition was broken when Lisnagarvey faced Instonians, although Kirk Cup, inter-pros, under-age hockey and training matches have regularly taken place on the Sabbath.

The first Sunday hockey hockey match in 1986 did cause some concern and prompted protests from the Lord's Day Observance Society.