Player Sponsorship

Gotta go for a high profile 1st team player if available to raise the profile of the clan among the 4000+ other Connacht fans who attendeded regularly the last 2 seasons. Many of them think the clan is a stand or a bar on the other side of the pitch. A regular startergets the clan in the programme and if he scores gets clan mentioned by announcer. He also can promote/ attend clan functions and fundraisers. If there is enough support in future years for multiple sponsoring then by all means go for squad players but IMO its an ideal opportunity to advertise/market the supporters club.

count me in, any chance we could get a list of who is already sponsored and then come up with a list of who is available and then run another poll. I don't neccessarily agree that it has be one of the senior 1st team players but instead whyy not go with one of the promising younger guys, Matt Healy for example.

That's what mrsc do also. They donate 6 figure sums to the Munster academy on a yearly basis. I'm not saying that's possible for Connacht clan at point in their development but it should be a goal.

Sea point and I disagree on many rugby related issues but I agree with his detailed post above. Its vital its done correctly and that fundraising is done more vigorously if the supporters club is to become more than an internet forum. The player sponsorship idea is an ideal marketing strategy to grow the supporters club.

might be an idea to throw out feelers on FB and twitter

rossie wrote: That's what mrsc do also. They donate 6 figure sums to the Munster academy on a yearly basis. I'm not saying that's possible for Connacht clan at point in their development but it should be a goal.

Sea point and I disagree on many rugby related issues but I agree with his detailed post above. Its vital its done correctly and that fundraising is done more vigorously if the supporters club is to become more than an internet forum. The player sponsorship idea is an ideal marketing strategy to grow the supporters club.

I can tell you that mrsc membership is currently 65 euro if you want he tickets. AFAIK associate membership is 30 euro. Connacht are 10 yes + behind that so don't panic but that's where clan has to be heading. For instance its reported that Connacht can't afford a defence coach!
First things first though and raising profile of clan is a start.

As an example of gap in provinces mrsc have 3 fulltime staff and have an agency to look after renewals which either go thru them or the clubs

great idea! i was thinking this 2 seasons ago but dont think i suggested it!
seen that exeter (i think) do it. would be handy to have a player who doesnt make the team (if injured) for games away to munster or any of our 3 away heineken cup games to pop around to whichever bar were meeting in, in galway and he could talk about the game at half time.

im also nearly sure the player hands over a signed shirt (could be wrong here) which the clan could either sell of, or raffle to people who have given money! money from this would go into next years player sponsor.
if we did collect more then needed, id suggest keeping this to one side for next year,

also some had a good idea of €20 gets you 1 vote, €50 3 votes and €10 half a vote.
if someone hands over €10 and is told he only gets half a vote, wouldnt be surprised if they were unhappy. €10 1 vote. €20 2 votes. €30 3votes etc etc

id aim for a big player, player who would be near starting every game.
i wasnt at the wasps game so i dont know who is left!

In previous years each player's bio on the squad section of the Connacht site listed the player's sponsor, but they've done away with that this year.

Bit of a bummer for me, I used to use that to pick the places to list on the app map of Galway.

I also didn't know Bar 8 had closed, I'll remove it from the list. Tamarind used to sponsor Keatley and then Fets. I know they've re-opened recently, so if someone can let me know if they sponsor a player this year I'll add them back to my list.