Some of the greatest names in Northern Irish sport gathered at Studio Ulster in Belfast last night for the formal launch of Ulster Sports Legacy, an ambitious new project designed to preserve sporting history, inspire participation, strengthen communities, and ultimately attract visitors.
Sport for Business attended a launch that brought together generations of sporting achievement, including rugby legend Willie John McBride, All-Ireland winner Peter Canavan and rising golf star Beth Coulter.
They were among 21 sporting figures who have already agreed to become ambassadors for the project, alongside names including Lady Mary Peters, Tommy Bowe, Carl Frampton, Marissa Callaghan, Jimmy Kirkwood, Julie Nelson, Rebecca Shorten, Demi Vance and David Humphreys.
At the heart of the initiative is founder and Chair Amanda Jones, whose drive has brought together sport, heritage, tourism, technology and community partners around a vision that extends well beyond creating another sports museum.
Ulster Sports Legacy is developing a digital museum, community programmes, a network of sports heritage experiences and, most ambitiously, plans for a permanent Sports Hall of Fame in Belfast city centre.
Jones revealed last night that discussions are already underway with Belfast City Council about a potential city-centre location and that developed plans have been submitted, leaving the project ready to progress if it secures the necessary funding.
The launch took place in the appropriately futuristic surroundings of Studio Ulster, the £72 million virtual production facility developed by Ulster University in partnership with Belfast Harbour and supported by Northern Ireland Screen.
The venue brought the sporting past and technological future together, transporting guests through some of the great moments and locations of Ulster sport.
Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons formally launched the initiative, describing Northern Ireland’s sporting story as something that deserves to be preserved, celebrated, and passed to future generations.
He also stressed that sporting legacy extends beyond medals and trophies into communities, volunteers and the creation of role models capable of changing what young people believe is possible.
Lady Mary Peters, who was unable to attend in person, delivered a recorded message which connected the new initiative with an ambition she has held for a quarter of a century.
“We have to honour the past and celebrate the future. And that’s my dream,” she said.
Ulster Sports Legacy has already moved beyond the launch stage.
Its first digital exhibition, Objects of Resilience, tells sporting stories through personal objects associated with leading athletes, while The Things We Keep will invite members of the public to contribute their own sporting memorabilia and the stories attached to it.
Some wonderfully unexpected objects are involved, including Willie John McBride with a packet of Players cigarettes and Jimmy Kirkwood with a roll of electrical tape.
A partnership with Sporting Memories will also bring the organisation’s community model to Ulster for the first time. The first club is being established at the Belfast Celtic Museum at the Park Centre, with further activity planned. Sporting Memories already operates more than 150 clubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
Ulster Sports Legacy is in discussions with Tourism NI about developing a sports heritage trail, using GPS navigation to connect existing attractions and sporting locations.
Among those identified are the Education and Heritage Centre at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the Ulster Rugby heritage collection at Ravenhill, Belfast Celtic Museum, the Tyrone GAA heritage centre at Garvaghy, the Rory McIlroy exhibition at Holywood Golf Club and Northern Ireland’s rich motorcycle road-racing heritage.
The project is also developing international relationships and has submitted a PEACEPLUS funding application for an 18-month cross-community sporting memories programme in border counties.
Sport for Business Perspective
What Amanda Jones and the team behind Ulster Sports Legacy are building is very inspiring.
Northern Ireland has an extraordinary density of internationally recognised sporting stories for its population size.
George Best, Mary Peters, Willie John McBride, Joey Dunlop, Rory McIlroy, AP McCoy and Carl Frampton sit alongside a new generation including Rhys McClenaghan, Daniel Wiffen, Hannah Scott and Beth Coulter.
Those stories currently exist across different sports, museums, clubs, venues and communities, but they could become more than the sum of their parts.
Jones put the economic argument clearly at the launch, saying that sporting success creates a stronger international profile and that celebrating it can encourage visitors, boost the economy and bring communities closer together.
A visitor coming to play Royal County Down or Royal Portrush might also be interested in Rory McIlroy’s story. A rugby supporter visiting Belfast has a connection to Willie John McBride. Football brings George Best, boxing brings Barry McGuigan and Carl Frampton, while motorcycle racing opens another internationally recognised strand.
An equally important community argument was stressed last night.
Sporting history works because it is personal. It is the ticket kept in a drawer, the jersey handed down through a family, the memory of being in a particular stadium on a particular afternoon.
Deciding to capture those stories alongside the medals and famous names gives Ulster Sports Legacy a chance to build something owned by the wider sporting community, rather than simply presented to it.
Last night’s gathering at Studio Ulster demonstrated that the sporting support is already there.
The next stage will be converting that goodwill — and Amanda Jones’ considerable energy in driving the project — into the partnerships and investment required to give Ulster’s remarkable sporting story a permanent home.
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Image Credit: Sport for Business and Ulster Sports Legacy
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