Sport for Business was live last night from the 2018 Sport Industry Awards at Smock Alley Theatre. It was a sparkling night where the great and good of Irish sport, as well as a host of members from the Sport for Business community, came together to celebrate the achievements of the year.

Lidl and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association scooped the accolade for Sports Campaign of the Year, while the IRFU was awarded Sports Event of the Year for the Women’s Rugby World Cup hosted in Dublin and Belfast last year. Jay Wilson from Lidl and Garret Tubridy from the Women’s rugby World Cup were both on hand to accepte their deserved. Both were praised for their considerable investment in raising the profile of women’s sport.

GAA Director General Paraic Duffy, who is due to step down later this month after 10 years of service, was awarded an Outstanding Contribution award alongside the O’Donovan brothers’ coach Dominic Casey for his considerable involvement in Irish rowing.

AIB has long been paving the way in sport sponsorship and 2017 was no different. The long-term GAA sponsor went home with Digital Engagement Community of the Year for its 12-month long Club and County #TheToughest campaign which received over 20 million views and 4 million social interactions. Mark Doyle, Paddy Somers and Roisin Glynn were at Smock Alley Theatre though Poor Brian Keating skipped the night to attend Tottenham Hotspur’s ill-fated European Champions’ Cup tie with Juventus.

At least fellow fans Paraic Duffy, and AIB’s Coman Goggins made the right choice to stay home, on this occasion.

The FAI has a history of developing specific programmes for people with disabilities, for asylum seekers, ethnic minorities and refugees. In 2017 the Association agreed to work with Cara on a five-year programme that will ensure diversity and inclusivity in all the Association does earning them the Diversity and Inclusion award. This was also a tribute for tetrarch Hospitality who have backed the FAI’s strong Football For All over the past two years.

Other winners on the night included Gymnastics Ireland who took home National Governing Body of the Year, Cork LSP who won Local Sports Partnership of the Year, AIG and Dublin GAA who scooped scooped Best Commercial Sponsorship, largely down to a string of mighty impressive measurements on how the partnership had worked for the business, and Fota Island Adventure who beat off stiff competition to take Sports Business of the Year.

Sporting Innovation of the Year was won by the Dublin Simon Community. In the belief that homeless people need and deserve more purpose, wellbeing, intellectual stimulation, self-esteem and independence, they set up “The Wellbeing Room”. The gym which allows vulnerable adults to focus on their physical and mental health in a fun way has been a huge success – even allowing one individual of playing for Ireland in the Homeless World Cup.

The final two awards were the Jimmy Magee Award for Sports Journalism and Sports Media Outlet of the Year. The media plays a pivotal role in the business of sport and we in Ireland have always had both great journalists and media houses.

The Federation entered into a partnership with the Association of Sports Journalists in Ireland (ASJI) to select the winners.

A superb and fearless writer, Vincent Hogan of the Irish Independent was honored with the Sports Journalist of the Year award. And OffTheBall.com was awarded Sports Media Outlet of the Year in recognition of its contribution to the Irish sporting landscape, continuing to go from strength to strength, and embracing all forms of communication from broadcast to digital.

“It’s a privilege for us to celebrate so many passionate individuals and business here tonight at our third Sport Industry Awards,” said Federation Chief Executive, Mary O’Connor.

“Our research proves time and time again the powerful contribution sport makes to the Irish economy, whether the €46 million in bed nights from events, the €350 – €800 million in sports tourism or the 40,000 jobs are supported by Irish sport. Awards like these are integral for us to continue to highlight the importance of sport within our society and to reward those that work so tirelessly to make a true difference.”

Sport for Business is a previous winner of a Sport Industry Award as best Emerging Sports Business and we wer involved in the judging of this year’s awards.

The panel of judges was Cliona O’Leary, RTE Sport, Athlete Louise Galvin, Rory Sheridan, Diageo Ireland, Liam Harbison, Sport Ireland Institute, Larry Fenelon, Leman Solicitors, Cathal Dervan ASJI, Rob Hartnett, Sport for Business, Amanda Harton, JLT, Deirdre McDermott, OSK Accountants and Business Consultants, Mark Doyle, AIB and John Aherne, GolfGraffix, two more of last year’s winners.

The full list of those shortlisted and the winners is as follows

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR

Winner: AIB/GAA – Club and County
IRFU/Vodafone – Team of Us
Basketball Ireland – Overall Digital Strategy
Triathlon Ireland – Overall Digital Strategy
GAA – GAANOW
Motorsport Ireland– Overall Digital Strategy
Shamrock Rovers – #FootballLovesUs

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AWARD

Louth LSP – INCLUSIBILITY PROJECT 2017 Cricket Ireland – Get Into Cricket
Boxing Ireland – Cashen Vale Boxing Club
CARA – FIT4ALL
Winner: FAI – CARA/Sport Ireland Inclusive NGB
Gymnastics Ireland – Gymable
GAA – Healthy Club

CAMPAIGN OR PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR AWARD


Vodafone/ IRFU – Team of Us
AIB/GAA – Jeff and Kammy Journey to Croker
IRFU – Women’s Rugby World Cup
AIG – Dublin GAA
Winner: Lidl – Ladies Football
Largo Foods – Basketball Ireland

GOVERNING BODY OF THE YEAR AWARD


Ladies Gaelic Football Association
Cricket Ireland
Winner: Gymnastics Ireland
Triathlon Ireland
Tennis Ireland
Swim Ireland

LOCAL SPORT PARTNERSHIP OF THE YEAR AWARD

Limerick Local Sports Partnership – Sports Inclusion Club
Waterford Local Sport – WSP Balance Bike Programme
Laois Local Sport Partnership – Transformation Programme for women over 50
Clare Local Sport Partnership – Active Primary Schools programme
Winner: Cork Local Sports Partnership – Cork Sports Ability

SPORTS EVENT OF THE YEAR AWARD

LGFA – TG4 All Ireland Ladies Gaelic Football Finals 2017
Winner: IRFU – Women’s Rugby World Cup
IRFU – Six Nations Match Ireland vs England
Badminton Ireland – FZ Forza Irish Open 2017
Basketball Ireland – FIBA U18 Women’s Europeans

BEST COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIP AWARD


Lidl – Ladies Gaelic Football
Largo Foods – Hula Hoops Basketball Cup
Winner: AIG – Dublin GAA
Electric Ireland – Minor GAA
Fighter.ie – Broadcasting of Mixed Martial Arts

JIMMY MAGEE AWARD FOR SPORTS JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR


Winner: Vincent Hogan – Irish Independent
Roy Curtis – Sunday World
Kieran Cunningham – Irish Daily Star
Malachy Clerkin – The Irish Times
Sinead Kissane – TV3
Niall Kelly – The42.ie
Keith Duggan – The Irish Times

SPORT BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD


Clubify – Community engagement app
SportTech – Developing Sport Technology Companies
SportsJoe.ie – Broadcasting Sport
Winner: Fota Island Adventure – Sport Experience and training
KitmanLabs – Athlete optimization system

SPORTS MEDIA OUTLET OF THE YEAR AWARD


The Irish Times – Women in Sport
The 42.ie – Journalism
The Irish Examiner – Overall regional and national sport coverage
The Irish Independent- Tee to Green
Winner: Off the Ball.ie – Digital Sports Show

SPORTING INNOVATION OF THE YEAR AWARD

Motorsport.ie – Broadcasting own content
Irish Sailing – Water Sport Inclusion Games
Dublin Simon Community – A Gym for the Homeless
Complyfile – Software Platform for Voluntary Organisations
Rowing Ireland – Get Going – Get Rowing

All those shortlisted are deserving of the recognition for what they have done over the past twelve months. Follow us on social media @SportForBusines to discover all the latest from the commercial world of Irish Sport.

 

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