It’s a childhood dream for most to line out on the pitch for your favourite team or better still for your country in your chosen sport. We all know that the number who actually get to achieve this are tiny but it’s the dream that matters most, alongside the lifelong memory it kindles.
Those who work within sport can sometimes become immune to the charm of being as close to the action as we are but every now and again we get to see close up just how much that can mean.
Last night in the Aviva Stadium my eldest son and I had the pleasure of being two of 32 selected by Three to carry a giant Irish jersey out onto the pitch as part of the pre-match rituals.
We were there as the teams walked out onto the pitch. We were there as President Michael D Higgins walked the line. We were there as the piper played a lament for those who gave their lives in 1916. We were there singing the national anthem as it rang around among the 30,000 who were there behind us and around us.
It wasn’t particularly glamorous. We had to unfurl the giant jersey ourselves and pack it back into a tarpaulin bag under the East Stand among the rubbish bins that carried a waft of a pub after a late night.
It was memorable though. A new perspective that money couldn’t buy and that’s what sponsorship activation should be all about at a very granular level.
We 32, who knows if the number was symbolic or merely symmetrical, were chosen from a variety of ways through competition, invitation, sales development or a friendly word. We had a laugh, we enjoyed the game from seats on the half way line and we got to see the Players Lounge and enjoy free hospitality after the game.
The jackets we were given might not get many more outings and there was no commemorative medal to pass down through the family but the memory will last, both now and as a reminder of those childhood dreams kicking a ball around in the back garden. Thanks for that Three.
