Electric Ireland has been unveiled as the new sponsor of The GAA Higher Education Championships.
2018 will be the first of a three-year deal involving the Electric Ireland brand being attached to both the prestigious Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups.
The strong addition to the Electric Ireland portfolio reflects their commitment to youth and is in addition to sponsorship of the All Ireland Minor Football and Hurling Championships and the home matches at Donnybrook in the Nat West U20 Six Nations tournament in rugby.
Electric Ireland also sponsored the UEFA U19 Women’s European Championships held in Northern Ireland earlier this year and have been sponsors of Team Ireland at the last two Olympic Games.
“The breadth of competition coupled with the innate desire of Ireland’s best-known players to win these competitions demonstrates the importance of GAA to these players during a period of significant personal growth and development in their lives,” said Lisa Browne, Head of Marketing at Electric Ireland.
“We are looking forward to working with the GAA to shine a light on these competitions, their importance to the players, the third level institutions and the important role they play in both the sporting and personal development of those who take part.”
“One of the great success stories of the GAA in the last few decades has been the phenomenal growth of our Games at Third Level,” added GAA President Aogán Ó Feargháil.
“There was always a prestige attached to winning the Fitzgibbon and the Sigerson Cups, and that prestige remains to this day.”
“Increasingly we are seeing that stars of the future are being spotted first in their exploits at colleges’ level and that the standard is a natural stepping stone to senior inter-county level.”
“Of course, one great constant and attraction is the fact that the bonds and the friendships formed by the players on these teams endure long into the future. I find it a constant source of pride to see the passion, commitment and quality of the young people embracing and playing our Games and it gives us all confidence in the future of our Association.”
All Sigerson fixtures will be played on campuses and local venues as part of the fifth year of a home-and-away agreement between all clubs.
Any pairings which occurred over the last 4 years will now revert to the other club’s venue. With improvements made to many of the GAA facilities in the Higher Education sector, this will give clubs the opportunity to showcase their venues and will continue to raise the interest of the local student body in these fixtures.
The opening rounds of fixtures in the Championships will take place on the weekend of January 21st.
