It never ceases to amaze me that these awards nights manage to proceed reasonably smoothly. The main reason for this is the work carried out behind the scenes and this year I really must thank Jayne Brennan, Granville Hall and Stevie Love for their invaluable help in organising the event.
Thanks also to our special guests, Ulster 99 European Cup Winning Legend, Rab Irwin and current Ulster players TJ Anderson and Mark McCrea. It is really appreciated that they found the time to support the event.
Last, but by no means least, thanks very much to our sponsors Kilmore Jetworks, Lisnaskea and the Eagle Bars, Larne who’s generous contributions will enable us to donate £300 to Action Cancer on behalf of our main prize winners.
Unfortunately our main prize winners couldn’t be with us on Saturday night, but at least they did have reasonable excuses unlike last minute cry offs Boys on Tour who must have got lost yet again! The FRU Player of the Year, Stevie Ferris, was somewhat engaged running in tries in South Africa and Predictions League Winner, Bags, was also somewhat engaged looking at hotels in Monaghan with his brand new fiancée having proposed in the afterglow of his Predictions League victory! Good luck to both of them and hopefully we’ll catch up with them later in the summer.
Our other main prize winners included: –
The FRU Lady Panther of the Year – Kati McCormick. Hopefully Kati, who has 6 Under 19 caps for the USA, will be able to attend one of Ulster’s Heineken Cup matches in December or January.
The FRU Lanza Man of the Year – Ricardo José Ferrer Hernandez who gets this glowing tribute from Lanzarote RFC coach Leroy Heatley.
Ricardo is a born & bred ‘Conejero’ (i.e. Lanzarote, the island of rabbits, where rugby is still unheard of in most parts), and has just turned 32 years old. He joined the club at the end of last season & had never played rugby in his life, but trained hard all summer & bade his time until this season to get a chance to play for the 1st XV. Since Ricardo’s first foray into rugby, taking him from the subs bench straight into the front row, he has not looked back and his immense strength & fitness has put many a seasoned front-rower & indeed back-rower to shame. The only downfall to Ricardo’s input to rugby is his almost lady-like approach to beer drinking, but as the lad has more Ireland shirts than myself, I’ll forgive him, whilst of course, continuing to press home the importance of downing pints of stout on a regular basis.
The Lanzarote Predictions League Winner – Tevez. It wasn’t the MUFC goal scoring legend but none other than URSC dignitary Jonathan Bill who managed to scoop the top prize in this first dip into Lanzarote rugby predictions. Next year I’ll be better prepared to take him on!
The FRU Overseas Supporter of the Year – Flat Top. Despite intense pressure from Surrey Red Hand old Walter managed to hold on to the Overseas supporter award. Let’s hope Ulster don’t play too many away games on a Friday next season as the always well groomed Flat Top will have to choose between getting his hair trimmed or attending the match and we all know there will only be one winner in that scenario!
The FRU “I Wish I Hadn’t” Award – Bill Penny. Bill managed to scoop this award for “certain moments” caught on camera that you wish hadn’t been. With “tired and emotional” photos of Dergman and Walter’s nephew as worthy contenders Bill really had to pull out something special and his “enthusiastic” eating a bag of crisps was certainly that! It’s a good job I’d forgotten that picture of me in a Munster shirt or that would have been a contender, but though I forgot, others didn’t!
The FRUETTES Top Totty Award – TJ Anderson. The rugged TJ managed to hold of the challenge of pretty boys Ian Humphreys and Niall O’Connor to claim the award that every Ulster Player wants. TJ reckons that this award will give him the impetus to nail down a regular starting position next year!
All in all a great night’s entertainment and thanks to everyone who attended. A big thank you to Colin for his great photos of the night which you can view below.
Richard Hill was not in attendance sparking rumours that his proposed signing for Ulster may have hit last minute snags!
KPICASA_GALLERY(FRUAwards6thJune2009)
Corrections, comments or questions?