PREMIERSHIP Rugby will be using a Gilbert rugby ball for the 24th consecutive season. A proud moment for both brands, today as we confirm the news of their partnership extension.
Gilbert’s Sirius match ball will feature in both Gallagher Premiership Rugby and the Premiership Rugby Cup. The preferred choice of the world’s leading nations, Gilbert has been the official ball at the Rugby World Cup for the last seven consecutive tournaments and will be used exclusively at Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand and France 2023.
Bath Rugby’s Rhys Priestland, who was the Gilbert Golden Boot winner for the 2019-20 season said: “For players across the league having a world-leading match ball, brings confidence in executing during matches what we practice day in day out on the training field. It is important for us all, within Gallagher Premiership Rugby, to have the ability to train and compete with such high-quality rugby balls.”
Dating back to 1823, Gilbert has a unique heritage in rugby with William Gilbert supplying some of the very first rugby balls to Rugby School since – as legend has it - that William Webb Ellis first picked up the ball and ran with it.
Gilbert remains one of the game's best-known brands to have featured in the sport, and will be celebrating their bicentenary during this extended partnership. Over this time Gilbert has consolidated its position as the leader in manufacturing rugby balls and rugby training equipment, whilst driving innovation in the sport including ball-tracking technology, which will add additional value to this next phase of collaboration.
Mark Brittain Chief Commercial Officer at Premiership Rugby said: "Gilbert are Premiership Rugby's longest-serving partner and I'm delighted to announce that we will be using their iconic ball for another three seasons.”
“Gilbert has been the ideal partner since its association with the Premiership began in 1997 and they complement the values of Premiership Rugby perfectly.”
“The next three seasons should see the implementation of a number of exciting collaborations including a focus on driving innovation in our sport, with the focus on improving the game for players and fans alike.”
To celebrate the renewal of the partnership:
- One lucky supporter will receive a signed match ball from this Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final, via a new competition run on Premiership Rugby's social media channels under #SpinToWin
- Premiership Rugby fans will be able to access exciting new offers through the new Gilbert e-commerce platform, in the build-up to the 2020-21 season.
Richard Gray CEO Commercial at Gilbert Rugby adds, “We are delighted to renew our long and successful relationship with Premiership Rugby and to extend our investment in rugby, both at the elite level and through the award-winning community programmes that Premiership Rugby runs so successfully.
“Celebrating such a successful and long-standing partnership with Premiership Rugby is testament to the hard work and dedication that the team at Gilbert are proud to offer the rugby community.
“We are particularly pleased to be able to announce this partnership in the lead up to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final and the culmination in what has been an extremely testing season for everyone involved.“
About Gilbert Rugby
Gilbert Rugby is the world’s longest-serving rugby brand having served the rugby world since 1823 and remains a UK family run business at the heart of the game today; trusted by the Global rugby family to provide the best innovative products & support to enable players to perform to their full potential.
For more information visit www.gilbertrugby.com or follow Gilbert Rugby on social media.
About Premiership Rugby:
Premiership Rugby is the organisation which manages the top league in English club rugby – Gallagher Premiership Rugby.
It acts for its shareholder clubs in all major commercial and strategic negotiations with media and sponsorship partners of the league, as well as with other rugby governing bodies.
Premiership Rugby is also responsible for key areas of governance of the top flight competitions, including the Salary Cap Framework, Minimum Standards Criteria and Code of Conduct, as well as managing the Gallagher Premiership Rugby competition, Premiership Rugby 7s and the Premiership Rugby Cup, all of which are televised live exclusively by BT Sport.
Partners for the 2019-20 season are: Gallagher, BT Sport, Channel 5, Land Rover, BetUK, Citizen, Gilbert and The Times.
Premiership Rugby runs more than 90 local and national community rugby programmes. Each season Premiership Rugby and its clubs, working together with our players, coaches and impressive list of private, public and third sector partners, invest over £3.3million in a variety of community programmes under the Play and BreakThru campaigns which aim to grow grassroots participation and tackle core issues.
