2013/14

CLUB PERSON OF THE YEAR - ADMINISTRATOR

Name: Mohammed Ali Syed (Mo)

Faculty: Computer Science

Club: UCC Cricket Club

Position held within Club: Captain

Reason for Nomination: Without the tireless work of Mo there wouldn’t be a cricket

club at all in UCC! He took what was a defunct club, with many ties broken from

the previous committee. Mohammed battled past these and re-established links with

fellow clubs, regional and national organisations so that the club would be included

in all potential competitions. We grew our base of players by almost 100, and went

from our nascence in February to almost capturing the national intervarsity title a

mere few months later. At the start of this year the club completed a milestone in

winning the Indoor Intervarsity, just 11 months after being set up, and we have put

our differences aside with the Munster Cricket Union (Many thanks to Mo’s

diplomacy) to re-enter the local leagues, following the disappointment of being

rejected last year. Mohammed introduced an national standard coach in the shape

of Jim Doran to not only bring top quality coaching to UCC but to the city of Cork,

and this has increased the playing standard across the university, and attracted a

host of new players which otherwise would not be taking part in sport. Diversity was

important at the club and we have had players who had never played the game

before from Cork to Marseille, along with joining existing players from Pakistan

and India as part of one of the most multicultural teams on campus. Thanks to

Mohammed’s leadership there has only ever been friendliness and generosity at the

club, and team-mates play with the sole intention of representing the University and

their team-mates as best as they can. Even now Mo is organising the team’s

participation in the MCU leagues, and the upcoming summer intervarsity’s where

we aim to go one step further and win. Moreover he refuses to take the credit for his

work, and it often goes un-noticed. He fills a number of different roles at the club

when others are unavailable and forever creates a great atmosphere surrounding

the club. Mo has most certainly made UCC a better University in terms of sport, and

the club’s continued success provides an essential outlet given the increasing

numbers of international students from countries whose first sport is cricket, and

without these tireless efforts by Mohammed this outlet would not exist.

Signed: Kevin Galvin,

Public Relations Officer, UCC Cricket Club