RFU And Honda Announce Official Partnership
The RFU has announced a new partnership with Honda UK, which will become the Performance Partner and the Official Vehicle of England Rugby.
The deal will see Honda become the first ever title partner for the Rugby Grounds Connected programme, as well as principal partner of the Volunteer Programme.
In a stunt designed to celebrate the announcement, the car manufacturer created a giant set of rugby goalposts from its fleet of new cars at its mass distribution centre at Portbury Docks, Bristol.
A total of 49 models of varying size and colour – including the Jazz Hybrid, Jazz Crosstar and Civic – were parked into the shape of a 100ft long set of rugby posts, with numerous other cars positioned below to spell out ‘ENG’.
Honda will support community rugby in England, becoming the first ever title partner for the Rugby Grounds Connected programme as well as support for volunteering in the grassroots game through the Honda Volunteer Recognition Programme.
Meanwhile, the brand will also become the Principal Partner to the England Rugby senior men’s official training centre located at Pennyhill Park, which will be renamed as the Honda England Rugby Performance Centre, while the brand will also provide the official vehicle fleet to England Rugby and its employees. According to the RFU, this fleet will have sustainability as a ‘major focus’ with the ‘majority’ of the cars supplied having a degree of electrification.
“We are delighted to confirm Honda UK as an Official Partner of the RFU and England Rugby,” said Bill Sweeney, CEO, RFU.
“Honda is a massive global brand well-known for its innovation and we are certain it will be a great fit for us. Honda’s global brand positioning is enabling ‘the Power of Dreams’ and ‘challenging spirit’ which is synonymous with our own.
“We look forward to working with Honda on what will no doubt be some exciting partnership activations over the next few years.”
Rebecca Adamson, Head of Automobile, Honda UK, added: “We are thrilled to announce this exciting new partnership with The Rugby Football Union.
“On a brand level, there are huge synergies between Honda and England Rugby and we truly believe it’s a partnership that supports our own philosophy of giving everyone the ‘Power to Dream’ and we’re all very excited to see what the next few years will bring.
“For a bit of fun, we thought we’d turn our large car park at Portbury into a giant set of rugby posts which could be visible from quite a distance.”
The Honda logo will also feature on the England men’s U18 and U20 playing and training kits produced by Umbro.
