Trevor Ringland

Trevor Ringland

Full name	Trevor Maxwell Ringland
Date of birth	13 November 1959 (1959-11-13)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
School	Larne Grammar School
University	Queen's University Belfast
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	wing
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	Ballymena RFC
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
	Ulster
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1981 - 1988 1983	Ireland British and Irish Lions	31 4	(45)

Trevor Maxwell Ringland, MBE (born 13 November 1959 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a solicitor, former rugby union winger and Unionist politician. After attending Larne Grammar School Ringland studied law at Queen's University Belfast.

Rugby career

Ringland made 31 competitive appearances for Ireland, scoring nine tries. The majority of his appearance came in the Five Nations, with the remainder coming in the 1987 Rugby World Cup. He also represented Ulster and Ballymena.

In 1983 he toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions. Since retirement, he has coached at Ballymena and been a committee member of the Irish Rugby Football Union.

Career outside sport

As rugby was an amateur sport during his career, Ringland is also a full-time solicitor for Macaulay and Ritchie. In 2006 he was appointed as a member of the new Northern Ireland Policing Board. His Policing Board profile states he is a director of Independent News & Media, Mediation Northern Ireland and The Ireland Funds.

Ringland is also active with Peace Players International, an organization devoted to promote inter-religious unity in Belfast through sport. Ringland and David Cullen won the 2007 ESPY Arthur Ashe for Courage Award.

Ringland was awarded an MBE for services to the community in Northern Ireland in the New Year Honours 2009.

Political career

Ringland was Vice Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party's East Belfast Branch. On 24 February 2010 Ringland was adopted by the Ulster Unionist Party and Conservative Party as their joint candidate in East Belfast for the 2010 General Election.

In September 2010, Ringland became involved in a controversy over the new leader of Ulster Unionist Party, Tom Elliott. Upon Elliott's election as party leader, Ringland publicly asked the new leader if he would be prepared to attend a Gaelic Football All-Ireland Final in Dublin if an Ulster team were to take part; Elliott refused. On 4 October 2010, Ringland resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party.

External links

• Ringland accepts Arthur Ashe Award 2007 video