The Irish Post has signed a partnership deal with London Irish rugby club.
Under the deal the Post, which is a weekly newspaper aimed mainly at Irish people living in England, will give extensive coverage to the club and in exchange will get branding at the club’s home games in Reading. Some 10,000 copies of a special edition of the paper are to be handed out at this weekend’s game.
Here’s the full press release for the Irish Post:
The Irish Post is to become the official media partner to one of Britain’s biggest and most well-known rugby clubs.
The weekly newspaper, aimed at the Irish communities living in some of Britain’s largest towns and cities, including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, will work with London Irish RFC until the end of the 2014/15 season.
The new partnership has been forged to build a closer relationship between supporters of London Irish – who play their home games at Reading Football Club’s Madejski Stadium – and Irish Post readers.
As part of the deal there will be extensive coverage of the rugby club and its various events via the paper’s sports pages
The Irish Post will also have its branding in the stadium for all London Irish games.
London Irish commercial director Richard Marsh said: “London Irish is extremely proud of its Irish heritage and understands the importance of maintaining strong links with the community. The Irish Post is the biggest selling newspaper to the Irish in Britain and has been their voice for over 40 years – it is therefore the perfect media partner for us.
‘This agreement is a key factor in our marketing and communication plans for coming seasons and we are delighted and thank Niamh Kelly and the team for coming on board.”
Commenting on the new deal, Irish Post Chief Executive Niamh Kelly said: ‘For well over 100 years, London Irish Rugby Club has been a home to the Irish community in Britain. The Irish Post is delighted to have formed a media partnership with an institution so identifiable with the Irish people both in Britain and overseas. We look forward to building a close working relationship that will serve the community in the coming years. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the club every future success.”
The partnership kicks off later this week when London Irish play Leicester Tigers in what is being billed by the club as its St Patrick’s Party.
The Irish Post is supplying 10,000 copies of the paper, with a special London Irish wrap-around cover, which will be handed out to fans before Sunday’s match at the Madejski.
The Irish Post’s editor, Murray Morse, who was appointed last month said: ‘We are delighted to be teaming up with London Irish and this partnership makes perfect sense as it will help raise the profiles of both the club and the newspaper in equal measure.
“There are not too many newspapers that can boast of such a partnership as the one we have signed.”
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