MICHAEL Hasson has been elected the 36th President of the Ulster Council GAA at Saturday's Provincial Convention, held at the Derry GAA Centre at Owenbeg, taking over from Martin McAviney who has served as President for the past three years.
Hasson is a lifelong member of the St Mary'ss Rasharkin club in County Antrim where he has devoted a lifetime of service as a player, referee and administrator among other roles.
A club committee member since 1965, Hasson was elected to represent Rasharkin at South-West Antrim Divisional Committee in 1967, a position he would hold for a further thirty years.
He served on the Antrim County Management Committee for a decade from 1997, and in the same year he was also elected as the Antrim delegate to the Ulster Council.
Hasson has served on a number of committees at Provincial and National level, including Chairman of the Ulster Hurling Development Committee and the 2014 & 2015 Feile na nGael Executive Committee. Prior to being elected as Ulster President, he has held the roles of Provincial PRO (2007-10), Treasurer (2010-13) and Vice-President (2013-16).
His election means that he has become the 6th Antrim man to hold the position of Uachtaran Comhairle Uladh, following in the footsteps of the Council's first President George Martin (1903), Seamus Dobbin (1919-22), Patrick McFadden (1925-31), Patrick McNamee (1935-37 & 1943-45) and Seamus McFerran (1949-51).
Also at Saturday's Ulster Convention Oliver Galligan (Cavan) was elected to the position of Vice-President, while Ciaran McLaughlin (Tyrone) and Michael Geoghegan (Armagh) were elected as Treasurer and PRO respectively.