Littlewoods Ireland launched the third year of its partnership with the Camogie Association in Dublin yesterday and revealed they would be live streaming six games from the Littlewoods Camogie National League over the coming weeks.
“We streamed a semifinal in our first year on YouTube and then last year we did the same, for one game on Facebook,” said Littlewoods Sponsorship Manager Pippa Doyle, speaking to Sport for Business yesterday.
“Last year saw us reach 18,000 viewers for the game so when we sat down to plan for how we wanted to promote the sport in 2019 that was an obvious first port of call.”
Live Stream
“Our target this year is to live stream six matches in total and to reach 100,000 views. That will be one match from each round of the group stages and one or possibly two of the semi-finals.”
“The objective is to get as many people as we can watching the sport and seeing how great it is.”
“We are also looking to shine a light on the sport and will be producing new graphics to highlight the characters involved on our social media channels from this week.”
“When you think about it the idea of 18,000 getting to Banagher to watch last season’s semi-final is unheard of so helping them to see the game through Facebook is a real positive for Camogie and for Littlewoods. Setting a target of 100,000 may prove ambitious and there are challenges to be overcome in terms of getting fixtures and facilities in time to plan effectively but that’s what we want to do.”
“We get underway this weekend with Tipperary against Cork this weekend. We had all the details of that early and so we could make the plans.”
“We use nTrai and David O’Shea to provide the technology. Lauren Guilfoyle will be on the microphone alongside Killian Whelan and we will also bring in local expertise depending on who it is that’s playing.”
This is the final year of Littlewood’s initial three year partnership with the GAA and the Camogie Association and negotiations are understood to be underway regarding the potential of renewing the partnership which covers the All ireland Hurling Championship alongside Bord Gais Energy and Centra, the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues and the National Go Games blitzes around Easter time.
The Style of Play theme to Littlewood’s coverage will continue.
Social Media
“Our social media coverage around #StyleOfPlay peaked in February last year which was a surprise at first but with the summer getting very busy across a number of different brands being involved in the Hurling Championship it was great to get a good start through the Camogie partnership.”
It always gets referenced throughout the season and while we would never want to step on the toes of Liberty Insurance as sponsors of the All Ireland Championship we are building a good relationship across the whole Camogie community and that is something we really value.”
All-Ireland winner Amy O’Connor from Cork and Waterford Captain Niamh Rockett were there yesterday to launch the sponsorship and both feature strongly this morning across mainstream media with O’Connor having plenty to say on refereeing and the need to entertain on the biggest stage, while Rockett tells her inspiring story of overcoming an arthritic knee and managing her training to keep playing, all despite only being 25.
The 2019 season begins this weekend as reigning champions Kilkenny entertain Clare as they begin to defend their title and aim for four-in-a-row.
Coverage
Fans can tune in to live coverage of Cork away to Tipperary from 1.45pm on Sunday across YouTube and Facebook.
“We are thrilled to be continuing our sponsorship of the Camogie Leagues for a third season,” said Littlewoods Ireland Managing Director Geoff Scully at the launch.
“We want to make a meaningful impact as sponsors of the Camogie Leagues by creating a greater conversation around the game, showcasing it to more people and inspiring young girls to play sport by portraying the many female role models who currently play Camogie.”
“I am very excited for the start of the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues this Sunday,” added Camogie Association president, Kathleen Woods.
“The Leagues get the inter-county season underway with a bang each year and provide an opportunity for counties to gel and gather experience ahead of what will be a long season. This I’m sure will provide some great opportunities for all supporters to see their county’s stars in action over the coming months.”
“This is the third year of Littlewoods Ireland’s sponsorship of the Leagues and we are delighted to work with such an enthusiastic and innovative partner to continue to promote our game to new audiences.”
Image Credit: Inpho.ie / Dan Sheridan
