Virgin Atlantic Partners With SIA South Africa

The Sport Industry Group is delighted to announce that international airline Virgin Atlantic has become the Official Carrier of the Sport Industry Awards 2011 in South Africa, the first-ever opportunity for the rapidly evolving South African sports market to celebrate its business achievements.

The new agreement sees Virgin Atlantic awarded Partner status covering the entirety of the Awards programme which will open for entries for its inaugural year in September following this summer’s World Cup, the first to be staged on African soil.

The airline joins a growing list of commercial partners to the Awards led by fitness chain Virgin Active which has signed up as Headline Partner and including SuperSport, Rapport, City Press, EA Sports and Deloitte.

The City of Ekurhuleni will stage the inaugural Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards which will take place on February 17th, 2011 and will be hosted by Emperors Palace.

Presented in front of a star-studded audience of all the key stakeholders in South African sport, the Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards will recognise and reward the best the South African sport business has to offer in categories covering marketing, PR, sponsorship, media, advertising and design.

The annual Awards ceremony will see the country’s top-performing sport brands and organisations receive recognition for their work at a glamorous black-tie event in what has become the most visible and sought-after endorsement of commercial achievement in sport.

Three of South Africa’s most inspirational and successful sport stars – Lucas Radebe, Bobby Skinstad and Natalie du Toit – are serving as the event’s Ambassadors.

Having just completed its ninth year, the corresponding UK gala event is the largest sport business event in Europe and has attracted the highest profile global sporting and non-sporting celebrities including the likes of David and Victoria Beckham, Jenson Button, Fabio Capello, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin Johnson, Dame Kelly Holmes, Kevin Pietersen, Thierry Henry, Bernie Ecclestone, and Michael Johnson who have lined up alongside all the key stakeholders from within the UK sport industry to celebrate the annual Awards.

For more information on the Virgin Active Sport Industry Awards, visit www.sportindustry.co.za.