The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

2017 goes from bad to worse for ARU with major sponsor pulling out of NRC

Former Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Editor
6th June, 2017
84
5199 Reads

Just when you thought this year couldn’t get any worse for the ARU, Buildcorp has pulled out of their deal as major sponsor of the NRC.

The decision to back out as the naming rights sponsor of the third-tier rugby competition is a result of the ARU’s inaction in creating a national women’s competition in the same vein as the NRC.

The ARU is launching a national sevens competition later this year, with eight teams linked to universities around the country, but no such tournament for 15-a-side rugby exists.

“At Buildcorp we really need to align any partnership we’re involved with our values and it was not a championship that was able to produce a women’s competition,” Josephine Sukkar, Buildcorp’s co-founder and principal, said.

“We had asked for that for a long time and we had wanted it to look the same as the men’s and for them to be playing on the same fields as curtain raisers.

“That is a problem for the ARU at the moment to be able to deliver that. So we discontinued that sponsorship this year. It’s the first time we’ve ever discontinued a rugby sponsorship, but that was pretty difficult for us to stand alongside that.”

[latest_videos_strip category=”rugby” name=”Rugby”]

Sukkar indicated her company would consider a new deal with the ARU if and when the creation of a national women’s XVs competition is introduced.

Advertisement

The decision from Buildcorp has coincided with two of the ARU’s other partners – Lion Nathan and BMW – also pulling their sponsorships.

“Each year ARU has a number of partners come up for renewal and it is normal for partners to re-evaluate their sponsorship portfolios from time-to-time during their contract tenure based on their marketing objectives and budgets,” an ARU spokesman told the Daily Telegraph.

“We have been fortunate that we’ve managed to retain over 90% of our partners across all forms of the game over the past five years but there is inevitably some turnover. We are currently in market having some positive conversations about filling the vacancies in those two categories.”

The loss of three key sponsors could hardly have come at a worse time for the ARU. The organisation is currently in the midst of deciding which of the Force or Rebels will be cut from Super Rugby next season, a decision that was originally planned to be made in early April.

close