Leinster Rugby and Bank of Ireland have signed a five year, six figure extension to their partnership. The Bank signed a similar deal last year with Munster Rugby and is also a shirt sponsor of Ulster Rugby.
The new deal includes exclusive branding of all the playing and training kit for the Leinster professional team but also includes major additional investment in supporting development officers and programmes to build the amateur game all the way from under 8 rugby through to the Leinster clubs including Clondalkin RFC where yesterday’s launch took place.
Branding will now be extended to include Leinster Schools, Youth, U19 and U20 teams and the community side of the deal is very much aimed at turning a major sponsorship into a locally activated platform throughout the province.
“We have made a commitment to retain our branch network and this is part of giving real local responsibility to our teams within communities,” said Bank of Ireland Sponsorship Manager Ian Murray speaking to Sport for Business.
“The exclusivity of our branding is important in terms of achieving clarity behind the relationship with Leinster and Munster but the deals are about building relationships over a long period.”
“It’s the same pre requisite we have behind our branding of Dragons den on RTE TV and other select partnerships we enter into.”
“Over a five year period we can continue to grow the strong relationship we already have with fans, players and management at Leinster Rugby and this extension to the grassroots level is all about seeing what we can do together to add value to both brands and for our customers.”
Expanded support from Guinness and Sky Sports for the PRO12 tournament will extend the significant hold that rugby has over a higher spending demographic in Ireland and the new European Champions’ Rugby Cup ensures that the provinces will remain very much in the spotlight, even in a year when Ireland will be defending the RBS 6 Nations title and preparing for the Rugby World Cup.
“The key thing for any sports team or organisation is to have stability and the extension of our relationship with Bank of Ireland allows us to build for the future in the knowledge that we have the considerable support of a willing and able sponsor,” added Leinster Rugby CEO Mick Dawson.
“This enhanced support for both parties allows us to plan behind the scenes and support Matt O’Connor to the best of our abilities.”
“It also very importantly places a lot of emphasis on the grassroots of the game and while things are beginning to torn, financial support in club land is still hard to come by.”
“The domestic side of the Leinster Rugby family will benefit greatly from this deal and Bank of Ireland are to be thanked for their willingness to see this. The club is and always will be the lifeline of Leinster Rugby. Without a thriving club scene, there are no players and there is no big game in front of a packed RDS.”
Leinster Rugby and bank of Ireland are full members of the Sport for Business community of sporting and business leaders.
