Impressive Kingspan Stadium a fitting statement of Ulster’s ambition

After a summer of upheaval, there is a growing sense that Ulster are building something special again, and the rock around which this is being constructed is the rebuilt Ravenhill, now known as Kingspan Stadium. Aside from having a debt-free new home, or at any rate, a rebuilt old one at a cost of about €32.3 million, it is also the engine which is now driving the organisation on and off the pitch.

New stadiums, or rebuilt ones, can sometimes take a while to assume an identity, and reprise the ‘fortress-like’ atmosphere of the old ones.

There was the flawed ticket pricing which contributed to Lansdowne Road’s less than seamless re-emergence as the Aviva Stadium. And the debate rages as to whether Thomond Park has ever quite recaptured its old, imposing, bearpit-like sense of occasion.

If anything, the sense of occasion and atmosphere at Ulster's handsome new home has been enhanced, with Ulster winning all ten home Guinness Pro12 games this season so far, and home players talk of the 50 per cent increase in capacity (from less than 12,000 to 18,000) being commensurate with the increased volume of support.

Another win against Munster on Saturday, followed up by victories in, possibly, a home semi-final and final, would certainly complete the transition.

"I think it always has been a fantastic place to play," says Johnny Bell, their long-serving, Belfast-born former centre and now defence coach, who is relocating to Gloucester alongside David Humphreys next season.

“A lot of that comes down to the supporters, the identity that is there, and I think the new Kingspan Stadium has really improved that and encapsulated it even more.”

"The facilities now are second to none," he added, in reference to the adjoining 3G playing training pitch and state of the art, 7,000 square foot gym which has contributed to signings such as their English-born Irish Under-20 centre Sam Arnold.

“I was talking to Mark McCall and he was being questioned by some reporters about having to go to Clermont and the hostile environment and the difficult place it is to play, and he said: ‘Listen, we were in Belfast last year for a quarter-final and our players said they had never experienced anything like they experienced that day at Kingspan’.”

“So it just shows you where it is with regards to European rugby and world rugby, and I think that’s only going to go from strength to strength. . .”

“It’s what it used to be like at Munster in Thomond and I think we have gone a long way to creating that at Ulster . . .”

Kingspan brought Bell and a couple of players down for a media day in the nouveau chic of the Marker Hotel in the trendy Docklands to showcase their involvement and encourage use of the stadium’s new name. Considering they’ve ploughed in an estimated €8 million-plus over ten years for the naming rights, that’s fair enough. In addition they have invested an estimated €1.5 million per year as primary shirt sponsors from next season onwards.

It's no wonder Ulster were able to sign the rising All Blacks star Charles Piutau, for example, for a reputed €700,000 per season from the start of the 2016-17 campaign. And one ventures there will be one or two more marquee signings to come.

Brian O’Driscoll has observed: “If you look at some of the signings that Ulster and Munster have made, particularly Piutau, that sort of quality of signing are the type of players that English teams need as well. They are world-class and still have their best years ahead of them. It is big money but that is probably the answer.”

Two bids

Chosen from two bids to host the Pro12 final (Glasgow’s Scotstoun being the other), and also part of the IRFU’s bid for the 2023

World Cup

and Ireland’s bid for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Ulster chief executive Shane Logan, spoke of the province’s commercial partnership with Kingspan, the Cavan-based building materials company which employs 1,000 people in the province and how it fits with Ulster’s profile as “the nine counties of Ulster, not the six counties of Northern Ireland.”

Logan said “perhaps the outstanding thing” he had witnessed at the ground in his five years there as CEO was “Europe’s biggest disability rugby event in the Kingspan Stadium last June.”

Five hundred children from five different countries with learning difficulties took part, with 2,500 parents and supporters in attendance.

“If you think the atmosphere against Munster this week will be great, which it will, you should have been there for an occasion which was truly moving,” said Logan.