URSC AGM 2010

[BR]

Is he misinformed by others? It perhaps looked that way when he turned to Humph in that way which says – you told me that!

It looked to me that he'd been told we were 12th after the premature end to our ERC campaign. The rest seemed to be a misunderstanding of the ranking system, where he perhaps thought the ML results did not contribute to the eurorankings. Perhaps some confusion between the Eurorankings and the ERC rankings.

As you say - DH looked like he was going to have some explaining to do on the way to Dublin. Oh well, he now knows where he can go if he needs a proper explanation on how the rankings work.

[mikerob]

12th in Europe?

We are 12th in Europe. This was stated by our CEO at the URSC annual meeting ‘after event’ last evening. It is the second time in 2-3 months I have listened to him saying so. I have also read (in Hansard) that he stated this when presenting to MLA’s earlier this year.

We did finish as 12th ranked team in the HEC so it is accurate. If we'd finished 8th to 11th, we'd have been in the ACC. Its getting a bit pedantic to expect him to qualify this statement with reference to ERC rankings or EuroRankings. EuroRankings are unofficial and AFAIK they don't publish their scoring system and while they are interesting, they aren't relevant to UR in the way that ERC rankings are used to determine seeding, for example.

[for dog and ulcer]

Sounds riveting!!!!

[cables]

We did finish as 12th ranked team in the HEC so it is accurate.

Quite an amusing sleight of hand there Mikerob and surprising from someone who knows as much about such matters as you do. Pedantic - I don't believe so.

We finished in second place within our pool. In subsequent ranking of only those who finished 2nd in their pool (using the criteria furmulated by ERC to rank teams who had not previously played each other - different pools) we finished last of the 6. To add 6 + 6 amd get twelve is a distortion as it excludes from consideration all teams who finished 3rd or even 4th in their pool.

Using ERC ranking criteria of all 24 teams who played in the pool stages this season (itself a sub-set of European teams) would have placed us as 14th - Leicester and London Irish ranked higher.

Finishing as 6th runner up meant finishing nowhere.

On the day pool competition ended you may have got away with spinning - "we are 12th in Europe".

IF you go with that spin, you could say "we finished 12th in Europe this season".

To continue to say "we are 12th in Europe", and especially after the deep dip in our on field performances since then, serves only to mislead the listener as it is put forward as a current statement of fact.

An M.O.T. certificate does not mean a vehicle is road worthy - only that at a point in time it was found to be.

[darkside lightside]

Explanation of the crapness - we don't have the players; our NIQs were not good enough and the plan is that our NIQs need to be world class - IIRC 'they should be the next 5 names on the team sheet after our Irish internationals'. Couple of injuries which haven't helped. Bad reaction to the 6Ns disruption (AGAIN!). Certain amount of implied blame on MW.

I'm sure Humph's word is good, but like you say, getting someone signed by the 'start' of next season seems a little squeaky..

as for the explanation of the crapness - kind of makes my blood boil reading that... first obvious thing is that if our Irish and NIQ players are crap, how come then before Christmas we were doing pretty decently, and putting in some big performances? They haven't just become crap on the 1 Jan have they??

Also looking at our NIQs, BJ and Danielli would be in there pretty sharpish after the Irish boys, and Jim had an excellent first half of the season - ok we had Schif and Horua (or rather, didn't have Horua).. but even in the case of Munster & Leinster they have the likes of Berne, Brugnaut and Williams, guys who give them coverage in specific areas, but aren't exactly top-notch in and off themselves.

6N disruption - unless I'm missing another point they were making - WTF??? We have basically 3 players who were involved in the 6N, compared with half the Munster and Leinster squads... total bollo.

It's Matt Williams fault... FFS!!!!! This reminds me of the brand of lefty commentator who still churn out pieces blaming the problems du jour on Maggie Thatcher - for feck's sake she has't been around for getting on for 20 years!!! He was a divisive character, talked big, probably ruffled feathers - easy target, and for me its a cowardly impulse to try to back things onto him.

Any mention of the current crew when the blame was being handed out? I'm thinking along the lines of: 'we realise now we shouldn't have dispensed with a defensive coach...the coaches acknowledge at times they made a number of naive tactical errors...fair to say that we could have managed some players better, and morale may have suffered...' If they are in denial about some of the problems, or at least what appear to be problems from the outside, how are they going to deal with them??

[mikerob]

We did finish as 12th ranked team in the HEC so it is accurate.

Quite an amusing sleight of hand there Mikerob and surprising from someone who knows as much about such matters as you do. Pedantic - I don't believe so.

There is a time and a place for pedantry. Discussions about rankings on uafc is one of those times and places but when presenting to politicians who know nothing and care even less about the minutiae of HEC positions/ERC rankings etc. etc. then IMO the right thing to do is present a snapshot or soundbite, as it were. Preferably in words of less than 3 syllables. Knowing the audience, what they want and what you are trying to get from them is more important than boring them into a coma with pedantry.

[Ithryn]

2 things humph said stood out to me.

"we lost no one we wanted to hold onto", umm Boss?

"after meeting potential signings and showing them around our facilities to get an impression of them, we felt we could of signed any of them bar Dwayne Peel", that was paraphased, but to me he implied that it was dwayne peel they really wanted but couldnt get. whilst the others they have shown around, blair for example they were not too fussed on.

I could be wrong.

Also our CEO make a bold prediction of us having the other 3 stands build, and as a result a brand new 15k staduim in 3.5 years, work starting in january. We shall see.

[HwoodMike2umate]

i couldnt make it along last nite but can i enquire if the long unresolved issue of Cheerleaders and the lack of any @ Ravenhill was mentioned in despatches?

[Gary]

"Also our CEO make a bold prediction of us having the other 3 stands build, and as a result a brand new 15k staduim in 3.5 years, work starting in january"


Good news....and it will be ready just as Ulster becomes the best team in the world. Same year that Linfield will win the Champions League, Leeds will get out of the 1st Division, a Prod will be elected next Pope, Mike Reid will go on a diet, and I just can't wait to see those pigs flying past that blue moon

[cables]

CEO for a night

I wish I could write like Ballpark.

I arrived at the meeting room on time. I opened the door and immediately realised that the URSC meeting had not finished and that I should withdraw. This I did and pronto.

When given the ready signal from URSC I, and my support team, entered the room. The support team for the evening started to set up the laptop to screen communication to enable the presentations to be displayed on screen.

As I waited I scanned the room. I realised that the venue was full to capacity. How do they do that I wondered?

Ones first appearance in front of movers and shakers is important. To avoid boredom, and subsequently getting annoyed, I scanned the crowd . Shock and horror – I was overdressed for the occasion. I relaxed somewhat however when I realised that David was also but even more so.

As it became apparent that the video link was unlikely to work, I took a mental note. Did nobody check out this link before I arrived? As this difficulty continued I began to feel like a spare prat at a wedding. Heads are going to roll also came to mind.

Over to you Ballpark. I know it can be difficult to get subject material but there has got to be something for you in this!

Oooops you probably have already considered this.

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

One's first appearance

Rule 1.
Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
Examples: don't, isn't, you're right, she's a great teacher.

Rule 2.
Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.
Examples: one boy's hat, Ms. Chang's house

NOTE: Although names ending in s or an s sound are not required to have the second s added in possessive form, it is preferred.
Examples: Mr. Jones's golf clubs, Texas's weather

Rule 3.
Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied.
Example: This was his father's, not his, jacket.

Rule 4.
To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.
Examples: two boys' hats, the Joneses' golf clubs

Rule 5.
Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name.
Examples: We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles, the Changs have two cats and a dog.

Rule 6.
With a singular compound noun, show possession with 's at the end of the word.
Example: my mother-in-law's hat

Rule 7.
If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then use the apostrophe.
Example: my two brothers-in-law's hats

Rule 8.
Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item.
Example: Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood.

Rule 9.
Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an apostrophe.
Examples: (correct) This book is hers, not yours; (incorrect) This is your's.

Rule 10.
The only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.
Examples: It's a nice day.

Rule 11.
The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples: She consulted with three M.D.s, the 1990s not the 1990's.
NOTE: She went to three M.D.s' offices (the apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive).

Exception: Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples: Please dot your i's (you don't mean is).

Rule 12.
Use the possessive case in front of a gerund (-ing word).
Example: Alex's skating was a joy to behold.

[for dog and ulcer]

World class!!!!

[The FRU]

A review of the night here - http://thefru.co.uk/blog/2010/04/23/urs ... r-matters/

[for dog and ulcer]

A review of the night here - http://thefru.co.uk/blog/2010/04/23/urs ... r-matters/

Interesting and depressing- confirms one's suspicions.

[Cockatrice]

For dog and ulcer ..keep your suspicions to yourself...remember what happened over the white plastic bag suspicion.