Humphreys on ‘People of the Year’ award shortlist
Thursday, 28 August 2008
David Humphreys: on ‘People of the Year’ award shortlist.
Former Ballymena Academy pupil and Ballymena RFC player David Humphreys has been shortlisted in the inaugural People of the Year Awards which will take place at the Waterfront Hall in September.
The awards, which recognise people from all walks of life, have been created by Northern Ireland's longest-running glossy magazine to celebrate the very people that have been featuring in its pages for more than 40 years.
The Ulster Tatler People of the Year Awards, in association with House of Fraser, comprise 13 individual categories relating to life and lifestyles in Northern Ireland, from fashion to interior design, hairdressing to hospitality and from business to sport.
Shortlists in each category have been compiled from the nominations made by members of the public and the panels of judges will soon be sitting down to unenviable task of selecting the winners in the hotly-contested categories.
David has been shortlisted in the Sportsperson of the Year category but will face stiff opposition from football international, David Healy, and young golf professional, Rory McIlroy.
Dr David Humphreys, MBE began his professional rugby career with London Irish but returned to Ulster with the advent of Ulster rugby professionalism at the beginning of the 1998-99 season. He captained Ulster to European Cup glory in 1999.
A qualified solicitor, Humphreys was educated at Ballymena Academy, Queen's University Belfast and Oxford University. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ulster in December 2003 for Services to Sport and an MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List in 2004.
In September 2004 he became only the fourth Ulster player to reach the 100-cap mark, joining Gary Longwell, James Topping and Andy Ward in reaching that milestone.
David is Ireland's most capped out-half with 72 appearances and has scored 560 international points. He made his Ireland debut in 1996 and was ever-present in the Ireland squad until he announced his retirement from the international game after the 2006 Six Nations' campaign.
David has made an outstanding contribution to Irish rugby. As well as notching up an impressive tally of international caps, he has represented Ireland at A, U21 and Schools' levels and has also been capped for the Barbarians.
David was voted Ulster's All-Time Favourite Rugby Player in a recent Vodafone poll and since his retirement from playing has been appointed Operations Director at Ulster Rugby.
In his new position David will be responsible for ensuring the creation of an environment where the Ulster Rugby squad and management team can perform to their optimum abilities.
He will work in areas including player contracting and negotiations, facilities provision and the management of systems and will liaise closely with the coaching staff.
He will also be working closely with senior administrative staff at Ravenhill, building the profile of Ulster Rugby both within Ulster and further afield, particularly within the business community.
Chris Sherry, editor of Ulster Tatler, said: "We were overcome and really delighted with the huge number of nominations received, as well as the exceptionally high standard of nominees.
“Everyone who received a nomination should be very pleased and those who have made it onto the shortlists should realise what a huge vote of confidence it is, as all the nominations were made by clients, peers and even fans.
“The shortlist in each category simply comprises those who received most nominations. Now, myself and my Ulster Tatler colleagues, our category sponsors and our friends in the media have the difficult job of selecting the winners."
