Jul 11, 2013
In a continuation of its relationship with Irish high performance sailing, the Irish Olympic Sailing Team has announced a new deal for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Regatta in 2016 with Irish exploration firm Providence Resources in Dublin, this morning.
The deal is a major boost to the team as they prepare for Rio. It follows a six month deal put in place last year ahead of the London 2012 games and will provide significant additional resources to enable a competitive tilt at medals on the water.
“Providence Resources were so proud of the Irish Sailing Team at the Games in 2012, and we know they can achieve so much more,” said CEO Tony O’Reilly speaking at the launch. “We want to provide the team with the support to reach their goals in 2016.”
The Irish Sailing Team will be named Providence Team IRL for the four year period and joint branding will be rolled out over the coming weeks.
“We have had great support from the ISC and this commercial partnership raises the level at which we can compete,” added ISA Director James O’Callaghan. “We are an Island nation with a proven ability to mix with the best in international racing.”
The Providence deal extends across Olympic and Paralympic sailing and gear and boats will be rebranded as Providence Team IRL over the coming weeks.
Golden girl Annalise Murphy (23) and other members of the team were present when the city centre announcement was made with Providence Resources Chief Executive, Tony O’Reilly.
Annalise, who lost out on a medal in the final moments of her last race in Weymouth, has got her 2016 campaign off to a flying start winning two of three Eurocup events, earning her May’s Afloat sailor of the month award.
Murphy won both the Italian Lake Garda and Dutch rounds of the Eurocup to put her in top form for the Laser European Championships to be staged, for the first time, in her home waters of Dun Laoghaire next month at the National Yacht Club.
Annalise was joined for today’s press event by June’s Sail For Gold medal winner 49er sailor Matt Mcgovern, Laser Solo sailor James Espey and Paralympian John Twomey.
The Irish Sailing Team had their most successful Olympics for thirty years in 2012 with 4th, 10th and 14th finishes but did not win a medal as team officials predicted.
The sponsorship from Providence announced today means the team can spend more time at the Rio venue, a much more expensive proposition than Weymouth.
As of today, the 2016 sailing team members include:
Olympic
Annalise Murphy, (Laser Radial)
Ryan Seaton & Matt McGovern, (49er)
James Espey (Laser)
Paralympic
John Twomey (Sonar)
Ian Costello (Sonar)
A number of other campaigns are currently in training to reach qualification standard for 2016 including two campaigns in the new all-female class 49er FX, namely Tiffany Brien and Saskia Tidey/ Claudine Murphy and Andrea Brewster.
Meanwhile, Royal Cork Star Sailor Peter O’Leary could still get a chance to sail in the Keelboat again but only if the venerable class is reinstated in the Olympic fleet line-up, a question everyone in Olympic Circles is asking.
Sailing at the Rio Games will be at Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay, where ominously forecasters say winds can be ‘noxiously light and flukey’.
Read More Here (Afloat)
Read More Here (Sport For Business)
Read more about the Dun Laoghaire Regatta this week
Jul 4, 2013
The UCD Sports Centre has today been announced as the ‘Public Choice’ for building of the year for 2013 by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI). The award follows voting by some 12,500 people and highlights the relationship between sport and cutting edge design in Ireland. Thomond Park redevelopment won the Public Choice award in 2009.
The RIAI said: “The use of colour, choice of materials and the simplicity of its layout contribute greatly to its ease of use. The result is a dynamic building devoted to providing sports and recreational facilities to the students and staff of UCD as well as to members of the public, regardless of age, size, ability or disability”.
This years winner, by Fitzgerald Kavanagh Architects, is one of a long list of sporting venues which have received accolades over the years with Croke Park winning the prestigious RIAI Gold Medal in 2009 and the Aviva Stadium winning the Best Leisure and Accessible building in 2011.
The sports capital programme has helped fund many modern sports facilities such as Thomond Park and was reintroduced last year with funding being allocated in December 2012, for local projects to a value of €26m with a further €4m being allocated for regional and national projects, for the coming years.
More information on the Architecture Ireland awards can be found here
More information on sports capital funding can be found here
Jul 4, 2013
A new grant giving body aimed at raising the profile and changing the profile of women’s sport has been established in the UK. The Women’s Sport Trust (“WST”) is the only grant provider focused solely on female sport and is backed by a diverse range of elite female athletes along with representatives from business and the media.
WST will provide scholarship and grants to aspiring sportswomen, fund research and public awareness campaigns as well as anything else that will facilitate the progression of women’s sport in the UK. All grants are dependent upon the generous support of individuals and organisations joining together to make a difference to women’s lives.
All grants are dependent upon the generous support of individuals and organisations joining together to make a difference to women’s lives.
Speaking at the launch, Olympic Gold Medallist in Rowing and WST Patron, Anna Watkins OBE said: “We see ourselves as much as a movement as a grant giving body focused on attracting new funding and profile for women’s sport. We’ve been amazed and delighted by the remarkable response we’ve already had to the Trust. People are clearly thrilled to have an opportunity to make a difference to women’s sport.”
As well as attracting new funding and driving sports participation, WST aims to form relationships with journalists and broadcasters – in order to increase the profile of women’s sport in the media.
More details can be found at www.womenssporttrust.com
Jul 3, 2013
Recently published research by Fáilte Ireland revealed that the golf sector provides a total overseas spend of €202m for the Irish economy. The analysis of the value and profile of overseas golf visitors to Ireland shows, with 163,000 having played golf while in Ireland in 2012, that each overseas golf tourist is worth €1,200 to the economy (two and a half times that of the average tourist).
In the wake of the successful Irish Open at Carton House, the research also shows that Ireland is hitting the mark on both satisfaction levels and value for money for our overseas guests – with satisfaction rates at 94% and value for money at 83%.
Commenting on the findings, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring said –
“Ireland has some fantastic golf courses but we want to be the best in the world. That’s why we have been working hard to raise standards even higher within the golf sector, and ensure that every single golfer who comes to Ireland has an outstanding experience. The findings show that we are getting results.
“Golf is already an important part of the tourism industry, and there’s room to increase revenue further. Ireland also has fabulous scenery, culture, some outstanding golf links with magnificent sea views, and our world-famous charm at the 19th hole. So Fáilte Ireland is working closely with the golf sector to build further on our success rate.”
Other interesting points from the research include –
- Golfing visitors are much more likely to be repeat visitors and those who return are also very likely to play again;
- Amongst overseas golfers, North Americans are the biggest spenders with an average per capita spend of roughly €1,800;
- Approximately 21% of expenditure by overseas golfers is spent on green fees or other golf-related expenditure. This means that ancillary spend by golf tourists to Ireland benefits many other sectors, including accommodation, bars, restaurants and attractions;
- As well as being a valuable sector, Golf tourism has also been outperforming the general tourism market in recent years, averaging 6% growth per annum between 2009 and 2012;
- Overseas golfers are overwhelmingly male and affluent, with 90% being men and belonging to the affluent, white collar ABC1 socio-economic group;
- In terms of age, 93% of golfers are over 35 years old, with half aged between 45-64 years old;
- Golfing visitors to Ireland are more likely to be travelling with friends (44%) or as a couple (28%);
- North Americans and mainland Europeans are more likely to travel in groups of peers, while British golfers are more likely to travel with a spouse or partner;
- Ireland’s golfing tourists are also avid golfers, with nearly almost 90% describing golf as important and over 60% claiming that golf was ‘extremely important’ in their choice of holiday.
Crucially considering the last point, Ireland continues to utilise high-profile events to showcase its golfing product.
As part of the lead-up to the Irish Open, Fáilte Ireland developed a digital and social media campaign promoting the Irish Open and the wider golf experience available in Ireland. This included a specially commissioned ‘Greening in the Years’ video that highlights the great history and golden moments of past Irish Opens.(View the ‘Greening in the Years’ video here). It is hoped the video piece will evoke great memories with viewers encouraged to share their favourite Irish Open moment through a one-liner, an image or a video across Fáilte Ireland’s social media platforms.
When speaking about the Irish Open, Ireland’s Official Golf Ambassador, Padraig Harrington said –
“I am eagerly looking forward to the 2013 Irish Open at Carton House for what promises to be a great weekend of golf.
“The ‘Greening in the Years’ video has reminded me of so many golden moments of the Irish Open. My most special memory is when I holed the winning putt at Adare Manor in 2007. The setting was magnificent, the atmosphere generated by the home crowd was fantastic and having my family there made it extra special.”
Tony Lenehan, Head of Golf Tourism at Fáilte Ireland added –
“Forget about ‘staycations’, we believe that there is great potential in ‘playcations’. As our research shows, golf is an important part of our tourism offering and a lucrative part at that. This year’s Irish Open will be the perfect opportunity for us to advertise to international and domestic golfers just what a great place Ireland can be to play and stay.”
Read more here
Jul 2, 2013
The Joint Committee on Transport & Communications launched their report on Sponsorship of Sport by the Alcohol Drinks Industry on Tuesday 2nd of July. The Report found that such sponsorship should remain in place until such time as it can be replaced by other identifiable streams of comparable funding.
Speaking at the launch, Committee Vice-Chair John O’Mahony T.D. emphasised that it was the Committee’s function to look at the issue from a sport perspective. The Committee had found that there was a real risk that the removal of the funding for sport sourced through alcohol sponsorship would a detrimental impact on promotion of and participation in sport. They were cognisant of the reality that in the current climate replacement funding was not available.
Fianna Fail spokesperson on sport, Timmy Dooley T.D. also emphasised the practicalities around such a ban particularly given the size of Ireland viz-a-viz the rest of Europe and the reality that much of our sports content is broadcast from the UK and other European disadvantages. The Committee felt that the introduction of such a ban was not something that was practical for Ireland to lead on given the size of our market in order, to be effective such a ban would need to be implemented at a European Union level.
Other recommendations outlined in the Committee Report included:
- A Code of Practice for the consumption of alcohol within stadia should be drawn up by all sporting organisations
- A fixed percentage of all sponsorship received by each and every organisation from the alcohol drinks industry, should be ring-fenced and paid into a central fund to be administered by an appropriate body with the funds being used exclusively for Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Programmes
- Sponsorship of sport to be treated in the same way as sponsorship of arts, music and other festivals
- A code should be introduced for all brand owners and right-holders to provide responsible training in selling, advertising and marketing and to promote responsible drinking at all sponsored events
- All sporting organisations be encouraged to support programmes which contribute to social inclusion in order to reduce the abuse of alcohol, particularly among young people; and
A copy of the Committee’s Report can be accessed here
