The 1997–98 season was

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

's third season under professionalism, during which they competed in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

and the

IRFU Interprovincial Championship The IRFU Interprovincial Championship was a rugby union competition between the four provinces of Ireland – Ulster, Leinster, Munster and Connacht – and, for a brief period the Irish Exiles, run by the Irish Rugby Football Union. History Or ...

. Ulster Rugby Limited was incorporated as a private

company limited by guarantee A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share ca ...

on 9 May 1997. The IRFU offered new contracts for provincial players for this season. Full-time players would receive a retainer of £25,000, plus a win bonus of £500 for Heineken Cup matches. Part-time players would be paid a retainer of £7,500, plus a match fee of £400 for Interprovincial matches and £800 for the Heineken Cup, and a win bonus of £450 for both competitions."Seventy six players win IRFU contracts", ''Irish Independent'', 17 July 1997 Each province could have a maximum of 30 contracted players.

Mark McCall Mark Conn McCall (born 29 November 1967) is an Irish professional rugby union coach and former player, who is the current director of rugby of Premiership Rugby club Saracens. Arriving as an assistant in 2009 and taking charge of the first-team ...

was offered a full-time contract, but turned it down and signed for

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

, making him unavailable for Ulster this season.Jim Stokes, "Mark off to join Exiles", ''Belfast Telegraph'', 17 July 1997. Full-time contracts were also offered to Jan Cunningham and Stephen Bell, and part-time contracts to Sheldon Coulter,

Gary Longwell Gary Longwell (born 30 July 1971 in Belfast) is an Irish international rugby player. His usual position is as a lock, or second row. He spent his entire career playing for Irish provincial side Ulster, making his debut aged 19 in 1991. He was par ...

, Andrew Matchett, Dean Macartney and Tony McWhirter (

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

), Stuart Duncan, Richard Mackey and Denis McBride (

Malone Malone () is an Irish surname. From the Irish "''Mael Eóin''", the name means a servant or a disciple of Saint John. People * Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin (died 1127), historian and Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ó Maoil Eoin * Adrian Malone (1937 ...

), Gary Leslie and John Patterson (

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

), Clem Boyd (

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Bryn Cunningham Bryn Cunningham (born 30 March 1978) is an Irish rugby union administrator and former player. He played fullback for Ulster, making 150 appearances between 1997 and 2010, and was the team's Player of the Year in 2002–2003. Since 2014 he has bee ...

( Bective), Stuart Laing (

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

), Stephen McKinty ( Bangor), and Andy Ward ( Ballynahinch). After the departure of Tony Russ, Clive Griffiths was lined up to take over as head coach, but withdrew in the summer. Davy Haslett, a geography teacher at RBAI, was offered the position on the eve of the

1997 Ireland A rugby union tour of Oceania The 1997 Ireland rugby union tour of Oceania was a series of matches played in May in June 1997 in New Zealand and Samoa by the Ireland A national rugby union team, while the best Irish players where involved in the 1997 British Lions tour to S ...

, on which he was assistant coach. Between returning from that tour and a pre-booked famility holiday, he only had four weeks to work with the team before the season started. Charlie McAleese was appointed assistant coach, and John Kinnear team manager.Jonathan Bradley, ''The Last Amateurs: The Incredible Story of Ulster Rugby's 1999 European Champions'', The Blackstaff Press, 2018 Ulster finished third in the Interprovincial Championship, and bottom of their pool in the Heineken Cup. A representative match against South African side Geuteng Falcons in early 1998, for which Ulster were to be coached by

coach Nelie Smith, was called off after clubs refused to release their players.

Paddy Johns Patrick Stephen Johns, known as Paddy Johns (born 19 February 1968, in Portadown) was an Irish rugby union player from 1990 to 2000. He played mainly as a lock and occasionally in the back-row. He won 59 caps, scoring 4 tries and 20 points. He ...

and Andy Ward were selected for the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

squad for the

1998 Five Nations Championship The 1998 Five Nations Championship was the 69th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

. Johns, Ward and

James Topping James “Jimmy” Topping (born 18 December 1974) is an Irish rugby former player and current coach. As a player, he won eight caps for the Ireland national rugby union team between 1996 and 2003, playing on the wing. Topping was born in Belfast ...

were selected for the 1998 tour to South Africa.

Players selected

Season record

1997–98 Heineken Cup

Pool 2

1997–98 IRFU Interprovincial Championship

Home attendance

Friendlies

Ulster Rugby Awards

The inaugural Guinness Ulster Rugby Awards dinner was held on 20 May 1998 at the Balmoral Conference Centre. Winners were:Jim Stokes, "Handy Andy is tops", ''Belfast Telegraph'', 21 May 1998 *Player of the year: Andy Ward *Personality of the year: Andy Ward *Club of the year:

Ballynahinch RFC Ballynahinch Rugby Club is an Irish rugby union club based in the County Down town of Ballynahinch. Founded in 1954, the club is affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The first team plays Senior rugby union in the ...

*Coach of the year: Charlie McAleese, Dromore High School *Youth player of the year: Diarmuid O'Kane,

St Colman's College, Newry St Colman's College is a Roman Catholic English-medium education, English-medium grammar school for boys, situated in Newry, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The college was founded in 1823 as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore, Dromore Dio ...

*Schools player of the year: Andy Hughes,

Royal School Dungannon The Royal School is a mixed boarding school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was one of a number of 'free schools' created by James I of England, James I (otherwise known as James VI of Scotland) in 1608 to provide an ed ...

*Dorrington B. Faulkner Memorial Award: Ken Reid, former IRFU president and Ireland team manager

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulster 1997-98 1997–98 in Irish rugby union 1997–98 Heineken Cup