M A G A Z I N E
Volunteers “We’ve 1,050 volunteers engaged across our 27 clubs. Some of those clubs will have a membership of five or six hundred; others might have a membership of 100 and only three volunteers cutting the grass and keeping the lights on. “So we’ve been into those clubs and asked, how can we assist? How can we help bring in more people from the community and get the mums and dads involved? Because if the clubs fail, we’re going to fail ultimately. “We have 25 members of staff in our clubs and schools department. Seven of those are office based, away from the
pitch, in the governance of the clubs. We have 18 in the schools and the clubs trying to drive participation.” Worldwide reach Connacht Rugby is making waves in the media, making it a very attractive sponsorship opportunity for Pirtek. The PRO14 league has teams from five countries, including South Africa and every game in that league will be broadcast in 2018-19. Overall Connacht Rugby games are broadcast in 168 countries. The club also has strong domestic coverage, Gavin explains. “Eir bought the TV rights this season. TG Ceathair (TG4), the Irish regional-based channel, also
has the rights to show all our matches. Combined with Premier Sports in the UK, the deal is brilliant for us because it’s the first time all our home matches will be live on TV.” Across the UK and Ireland the club has a total audience of 2.6m, with 205 broadcast hours, 79 per cent of that live. Connacht Rugby also has a growing and engaged audience across social media channels.With 18.1m interactions annually on Facebook, 23.5m on Twitter and 12m on Instagram. Sports sponsorship is therefore a great avenue, which is explored by all franchises, be it Connacht Rugby with a strong Irish focus, or the long-standing partnership with Andrew Jordan in the British Touring Car Championship in the UK.
UK 0800 38 24 38 ROI 1800 74 78 35 www.pirtek.eu
21
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker