Shorts: Ospreys, Manchester Thunder, Brewdog
The Ospreys has announced UK drinks company iPRO as its official sports drinks partner for the 2022/23 rugby season.
Under terms of the agreement, the iPRO logo will appear on the water bottles, water carriers and cooler boxes of the United Rugby Championship team during training and match days.
Lucy Darrall, iPRO Global Partnerships Manager, said, “We’re incredibly proud to partner with Osprey’s and deliver high-quality hydration to their players. Staying optimally hydrated not only benefits their physical performance and recovery but enables their mental performance to excel. We look forward to starting our journey with the club.”
English Netball Superleague (NSL) team Manchester Thunder has announced a five-year ‘strategic partnership’ with AO.
The new agreement between the reigning NSL champion and the Bolton-headquartered electricals retailer sees AO become the club’s principal sponsor from the 2023 season.
As such, the AO brand will be visible across the team’s training kit, match day court and other courtside placements.
Vicky Monk, Director of Brand and Marketing at AO, said, “We’re continuing to invest heavily in our brand and our new partnership with Manchester Thunder marks an important part of that strategy. With our roots firmly in the North West, we’re thrilled to support a Manchester team to raise the profile of netball on their journey to professionalism and are excited at the prospect of inspiring and encouraging young people to take part in sport. We’re delighted to be continuing to support our local neighbours, as Manchester Thunder joins our roster of regional sponsorships including; the AO Arena, Sale Sharks, Lancashire County Cricket Club and Bolton Lads and Girls Club.”
Ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar, BrewDog has announced itself as an ‘anti-sponsor’ of the tournament.
The new campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi UK, has seen out-of-home (OOH) adverts erected around London that highlight the host country’s poor human rights record.
A statement from BrewDog read, ‘Football is meant to be for everyone. But in Qatar, homosexuality is illegal, flogging is an accepted form of punishment, and it’s OK for 6,500 workers to die building your stadium.’
The brewer, which runs 80 pubs across the, has also said that all profits from the sale of its Lost Lager product during the tournament will be directed to fight human rights abuse, but has not confirmed details of which organisations will benefit.
World Rugby has announced the appointment of Mick Wright as Chief of Operations within the international federation’s new EventsCo division.
Wright previously served as Executive Director at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and lead the logistics planning and operations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
World Rugby Chief Executive, Alan Gilpin said, “Mick is enormously respected within the global major sports event environment and we are delighted to be welcoming him to World Rugby at a time when we are managing a period of exciting change within the organisation.
Mick’s wealth of global events experience will be important as we establish a dedicated EventsCo structure that will oversee and unlock the potential of our new Rugby World Cup joint venture host delivery model for future Rugby World Cups in line with our strategic mission to accelerate the global growth of the sport, making rugby more accessible and more relevant to more people more of the time.”
