August and September are normally the near exclusive preserve of the GAA Championships at home and the start of the Premier League season across the water. In 2014 hover, rugby has been knocking hard to gain it’s share of coverage in the hearts and minds of sports fans, and on the pages and screens of media.
Elsewhere today we write about the achievements of the Women’s team in France, and yesterday as well Leinster took another step along the path of the best professional sports teams with a choreographed launch of a new jersey that will be exclusively worn in the European Champions’ Cup next season.
Canterbury
Sean O’Brien, Gordon Darcy and Jimmy Gopperth were on hand after pre season training yesterday to model the new kit and perhaps reveal some of the details that will follow through to the Irish Rugby jersey when that is revealed by Canterbury in the coming weeks ahead of the Guinness Autumn Series.
Leinster is on a two year cycle of kit with Canterbury. Last year they revealed a new home and alternative kit. This year for many is the ‘off year’ with only the third kit being changed but Leinster has sought to address that by turning this into the European kit and building a strong campaign around it.
This was also to have been the final year of Canterbury’s current deal but that was extended earlier in 2014 to run for another five years and the commitment on both sides is evident.
Technical
Canterbury executives flew out to Argentina over the summer to do final checks with the Leinster players on the Irish touring team around the technical and design aspects of the jersey.
“At the pro level the sleeves are tighter, the kit is lighter and the housing for gps trackers has a better feel to it,” said O’Brien.
“Matt Williams once weighed an old style jersey, and not even that old, after a wet game and it cam in at 5KG,” added Darcy. “That’s a lot to be carrying in the final minutes of a game when you need all your strength and speed to get over the line.”
“The advances in kit technology have been massive over the years and this is right on the edge.”
Grassroots
The Leinster team will wear the jersey for the first time in their pre season match against Ulster at Tallaght Stadium on August 30th. In advance of that they will be going to the grassroots with two open training sessions at Ashbourne on Friday 8th and Gorey on Friday 15th. Three players will be going to the Lifestyle Sports store at the Pavilion Centre in Swords on Saturday for a meet and greet with fans and a Spin 103.8 roadshow.
The launch of a new kit is like a new album from the Script now in terms of the promotion and how it can be used to connect with fans.
The new commercial and media team of Paul Dermody and Marcus O’Buachalla at Leinster Rugby are right on top of this and are making all the right moves to keep Leinster uppermost in fans’ attention at a time when redevelopment of the RDS Arena will require continued strong engagement.
