• Sir Graham Henry and Grant Fox extend their thanks to the Auckland Business community for their continued support of Auckland Rugby
• Barfoot & Thompson re-sign to take Sponsorship to 42 years
• Paladin Sports sign on as Official Apparel Partner
• Kia Motors further expand their support of sport to include Auckland Rugby
• Angus ‘Gus’ Macdonald re-signs with Auckland Rugby, this time as a Partner.
• PIC Insurance Brokers add naming rights of Junior Rugby to their suite of sponsorships
• Goodyear Senior Club Rugby shows how content can bring a partnership to life

In a year of social and economic upheaval the business community of Auckland have rallied around Auckland Rugby. Like many organisations across the country Auckland Rugby have had a challenging financial year. Impacts to Provincial Unions funding streams means plans and budgets have been written, re-written and re-written again.

“It goes without saying that 2020 has been a challenging year. For the Auckland business community to rally so strongly behind rugby deserves a great deal of thanks and our support in return for theirs” said Auckland Rugby’s highest point scorer, centurion and current All Blacks selector Grant Fox.

Jarrod Bear CEO of Auckland Rugby noted “The support of our current and new partners shows a real strength in belief right across our organisation and continues to prove what the game of rugby means to our broader community”.

Sir Graham Henry will again be involved behind the scenes for the Blue and White hoops this year. Sir Graham has taken on a mentoring role across the Leadership Group and like many is thankful for the support of all of Auckland Rugby’s partners. “It’s fantastic that businesses like Barfoot & Thompson have been partnered with Auckland Rugby since before I first began coaching here in the 90s. The number and breadth of new partners is a credit to the staff at Auckland Rugby and the business community of Auckland who recognise how valuable rugby is to the fabric of our society.”

Barfoot & Thompson have re-signed as the Principal Partner of Auckland Rugby with the new contract taking the total sponsorship tenure to 42 years making it one of the longest in all of New Zealand Rugby. Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said “Barfoot & Thompson is proud to support not just Auckland Rugby but a great number of clubs and sports organisations right across the community. In a challenging economic environment its even more important we continue to support our people and communities. It is fitting that our longest consecutive sponsorship will continue into our 100^th year of operation and we look forward to celebrating that together.”

Paladin Sports have signed on for a multi-year deal as Auckland Rugby’s official apparel provider. “Transitioning apparel providers can be a real logistical challenge when you are working across 60+ staff and over 20 different representative sides that Auckland Rugby supports. The whole team at Paladin have been great to deal with from the outset and their design, technical fabrics, and support have all been first class” notes Auckland Rugby’s Head of Commercial and Partnerships James McKee. Ed Harman, Director of Paladin Sports said “to bring Auckland Rugby into our growing stable across a range of sports is a proud moment for Paladin. Auckland Rugby has been around for 137 years and we are looking forward to a long partnership with the most successful rugby union in New

Zealand. Paladin are specialists in bespoke apparel and merchandise and the new Auckland Rugby merchandise range both looks great and is available at really accessible prices for the community.”

CLICK HERE for the Auckland Rugby Paladin Merchandise Store.

Kia Motors have also joined the group of Official Suppliers at Auckland Rugby. Building on their broad support of sport right across the country Kia have shown a real enthusiasm for supporting Auckland Rugby’s work across the community. Todd McDonald, Managing Director at Kia Motors said “Auckland Rugby facilitates 10,000 games of rugby a year for their 22,000 participants. For Kia to be the vehicle that allows their staff to make that happen is a great way to give back to our community who continues to support us so well.”

New Partners for Auckland Rugby don’t come much more special than the agreement with Angus (Gus) Macdonald’s Mac Group and Auckland Rugby. Gus played 53 times for Auckland Rugby, 44 times for the Blues as well as appearing for both the All Blacks and Maori All Blacks. Gus is thankful he is in a position to give back to the Union that gave him so much. “Auckland Rugby was a huge part of building who I was as a player and a person and being in a position to give back to ensure there are more young people playing our game both at a community level and across the Farah Palmer and Mitre 10 Cups is a really exciting prospect for me as a person and Mac Group as an organisation”

For the first time in the Union’s history both Junior and Senior Club competitions have attracted naming rights sponsors. PIC Insurance Brokers have added the Junior rugby partnership to their well-established back of shorts sponsorship. This helps provide Clubs with a rugby ball for every registered player, ensuring everyone has the tools to play rugby. Goodyear NZ have signed on as sponsors for Senior Club Rugby. Goodyear’s partnership of Auckland Rugby has extended to a weekly highlights package which has delivered both reach and frequency with digital reach at all-time highs and community engagement 400% higher than this time last year.

Auckland Rugby’s Head of Commercial James McKee was asked if he was proud of the results to date “Of course we are proud of our whole team, they have put in a huge amount of hard work to get here. But ultimately it is the hard work of our partners and suppliers that put them in the position to be able to support Auckland Rugby to both grow and innovate in our community game and to win and be better supported in high performance. Ultimately the work in the back office is now largely complete and it’s time for our men and women in blue and white hoops to perform on the field.”