As we draw to the close of the year, and the decade we have been taking a look at the stories that attracted the greatest interest from you our readers over the course of the last twelve months.
We have had over 180,000 visitors to our niche site over the course of the year. That is up almost 30 per cent on 2018. We have produced 240 Daily Digests and over 2,000 pieces of original content covering every aspect of the commercial world of sport in Ireland and further afield.
Our role is to shine a light on what you, our members, and those who might be just on the point of becoming so, do.
We act as a conduit whereby smart people can come together at our events and as part of our network to learn from each other and raise standards across the board.
It is a privilege to have been given the trust to become a part of the Irish sporting and Business ecosystem. It is never one we will take for granted, and we promise that we will continue to look for ways of improving the experience you get from us into 2020 and beyond.
But for now, we wish you a very Merry and peaceful Christmas and we will return with our first Digest of 2020 on January 6th.
Your favourite stories of 2019 were…
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30 Under 30 2019 – Young Leaders
The second full year of our search to identify and introduce those who will lead the industry into the future was inspiring. The quality of those who are working within sport and the business around it is exceptional.
We have always believed in the power of youth to effect change and in the benefit of mentoring and networking to develop potential. The search for the class of 2020 will begin in March. This was the class of 2019.
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Women of Influence in Irish Sport 2019
Our seventh year of compiling this inspiring list of the Women who are having the greatest impact on sport in a variety of ways only concluded this week but has once again proven to be one of our most popular initiatives.
150 Women were nominated for this year’s list, making the selection task harder than ever. We are also determined to keep it fresh and there are 19 new names on this years. In the New Year, we will begin a regular weekly feature highlighting the depth of quality there is in leadership. The 2020 search will begin again next August
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Walshe promoted to COO at FAI
On February 20th it would appear we were one of the few media outlets to report on the promotion of Rea Walshe to the position of Chief Operating Officer at the FAI.
Within a month John Delaney had sought legal cover from an article that was to be published in the Sunday Times and the rest is history.
Walshe stepped up as the first interim CEO of the Association through its troubled early months of the crisis and it appears that when people wanted to know more about her, this is where they came.
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Bank of Ireland’s New Rugby Campaign
We were humbled when Bank of Ireland chose Sport for Business to launch their ‘Begin’ advertising campaign based around the four provinces of Irish Rugby.
It was a powerful and evocative piece of content, tapping into the heart of the sport and played a key role in the Bank’s mainstream marketing through the second half of the year.
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Kieran Lucid – Man on a Mission
In November we sat down for a long-ranging chat with Kieran Lucid, the man who would revolutionise domestic soccer on the island of Ireland.
He is an engaging and intelligent man, not one for the limelight and one who will remain in the game through the early part of 2020 as his number crunching and analysis of the potential for clubs North and South of the border comes into sharper focus.
Lucid cam on after this to appear on stage with us at our first Sport for Business Breakfast in Belfast.
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Exclusive: Noel Mooney in the Spotlight
There was a rush to judgement on Noel Mooney when he was appointed as interim General Manager of the FAI for a period of six months at the height of the crisis.
We preferred to judge him on what he had achieved at UEFA rather than on the fact that he had once been part of the management at the FAI under John Delaney.
At the midpoint of his stay in Dublin, and days after the birth of his first child in Tallin, he sat down with us for a conversation about relationships, timelines media coverage and more.
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Calling Out an Absence of Coverage
At the height of summer, it can be tough for mainstream media to keep everybody happy with their coverage. Tough but not impossible.
In July we called out the Irish Times for failing to give a paragraph to previews of the All Ireland Ladies Football and Camogie Championships, while at the same time devoting a front page to Jonathan sexton’s thumb strain.
Sometimes you just have to call things as you see them.
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Shane Lowry’s Sponsorship Story
We revelled in the sights and sounds of Royal Portrush but we are not here to write rhapsodic reports of Shane Lowry’s march up the 18th into a place in sporting history.
We focused on what we do pretty well and what you come to us for, on his sponsorship story.
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Sport for Social Good Report 2019
Our second Annual Conference on the subject of Sport for Social Good took place as part of the commercial programme around the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
A great day highlighting some wonderful examples of sport and business coming together to make a real difference.
The Report that accompanied it has been a big hit as well. We will announce details of the 2020 Sport for Social Good events early in the new year.
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Behind the Microphone with Ger Gilroy
The long tail of a good long-form interview is evidenced by the appearance in the Top Ten of 2019 of an article first published in September 2018 but still drawing in readers.
Ger Gilroy swapped sides of the microphone for a spot in our Behind the Microphone exploration of how he got into sports broadcasting and what some of his favourite moments have been from covering sport at the highest level.
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Thank you for all your support in 2019. see you on the other side.
Read More: Explore our coverage of the FAI Governance story
