The debate around a possible single strand ban of alcohol within sponsorship continues in Ireland but no such inhibitions exist in England where the Rugby Football Union has announced major brewer Greene King IPA as the first title partner of the RFU Championship, the second tier of professional rugby in England.
The deal will run for four years in the first instance and is believed to be worth in the region of €500,000 each season.
The competition has never had a commercial sponsor until now but the quality of player it is producing has risen in recent years as it went from semi professional to full professional mode and seven players on the England Senior Squad played at this level last year.
Green King had previously been the official beer of English Rugby before being replaced in that role by Guinness.
18 games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports this season, including the end of year play off series for promotion to the Aviva sponsored Premiership.
The RFU as a whole lists over 20 major commercial partners including Guinness and Lucozade Sport who also have the same status in Ireland; BMW, Aviva, IBM and Canterbury.
The Scottish Rugby Union also announced new drink partnerships this year en route to a surplus of £900,000 on turnover of nearly £40 million.
The Irish Rugby Football Union recorded its own surplus of €7.8 million in 2011/12. The figures for the season will be revealed next month as well as an expected new kit deal to replace the loss of Puma announced in January.
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Beer Brands Take to English Rugby
