“Professional sport is a powerful metaphor for business. Facing fierce competition, building effective teams and developing both long and short term strategies are just some of the key areas where business and sport overlap,” said EY Managing Partner Michael Hall yesterday as he announced details of a three year extension to the professional services firm’s partnership with Ulster Rugby.
The extension comes off the back of an initial 18 month partnership based around the Ulster Rugby Career Development Programme, a unique mentoring initiative aimed at supporting Ulster Rugby players as they plan their future careers after retiring from the game.
The programme includes business workshops, work experience placements business network development as well as personal and professional mentoring.
Leadership
Players get to spend time with EY’s senior leadership team as well as others within the EY Northern Ireland network.
Placements are determined as much as possible by what the players areas of interest and post playing aspirations are.
It is the latest in a series of sporting partnerships signed by EY over recent months. It was a partner of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and of the successful European Ryder Cup Team at Gleneagles last month.
Talent
It also mirrors a similar strong move towards elite sport at an early career stage by PwC whose relationship with the IRFU through the U20 team and with the Gaelic Players Association has proven a winner in terms of identifying talent but also in shifting the image of the company towards a point where it goes beyond the point of service provision to client companies.
Sport is a powerful sales tool whether shifting insurance policies, fast moving consumer goods or long term advice.
“We are looking forward to continuing our work alongside Ulster Rugby as official sponsors of the team, not only to support the players’ sporting careers but to also assist them in clarifying their professional aspirations after rugby,” added Hall.
“By opening up our networks, providing relevant advice and facilitating immersive learning experiences, we are furthering our strategy to support and develop talent in business and sport throughout the island of Ireland.”
Mentoring
Having started with a team mentoring session with former EY Entrepreneur Of The Year finalist Peter Boyle of Argento, the mentoring initiative is set to ramp up over the coming months with a series of sector-focused workshops to enable the players to identify business opportunities that interest them and isolate any skills and experience gaps before they map out their individual strategies to achieve these ambitions.
Personal and business mentoring will be provided throughout the process to help the players put their post-rugby career plans into action, the first step being to initially run their new endeavours alongside their current sporting careers where possible.
“Ulster Rugby is delighted to extend our relationship with EY, a professional brand known all over the world, and for Ulster Rugby to continue its association is yet another step forward for our organisation,” said Phillip Polack, Business Development Manager at Ulster Rugby
Image credit: Presseye
Sport for Business is pleased to be support this week’s One Young World conference in Dublin. We will introduce a group of the delegates to ‘The Sporting Life’ via a collaborative event on Friday afternoon between three of Ireland’s most popular sports. Find out more about how we can help you to build imaginative partnerships between sport and business.
