EDINBURGH will sport the name ‘Aberdeen’ on their jerseys this season, but supporters can rest assured there is no plan to move the team once again from their Murrayfield home.
The pro team’s sponsorship deal with Magners came to an end last season and after a summer of talks with potential new sponsors they announced yesterday, on the eve of their first pre-season friendly against Wasps at Murrayfield, a two-year agreement
had been struck with Aberdeen Asset Management, the international investment group most famous in sport for its sponsorship of Scots golfers Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie.
Nic Cartwright, the Edinburgh chief executive, admitted he would have liked to have signed up a new sponsor and launch the new jersey before now.
He said: “Obviously, we’d have liked to secure a deal much earlier, but there’s a process you go through and we have expectations, sponsors have expectations and we wouldn’t do a deal unless those expectations were met.
“It’s not been a case of nobody being interested in Edinburgh; far from it. We have spoken to quite a few people and had to knock a few people away because of different expectations, and I don’t mean just money expectations – it’s about how the brand fits and how they want to support the club.
“But we’re delighted to have Aberdeen Asset join us for the next two seasons with the commitment they are showing, and we’re looking forward to working with them to build the club. The club is growing – we currently have a fantastic head coach, the country’s record points scorer in Chris Paterson, 17 internationalists in our squad and now a new shirt sponsor.
“Our commercial revenue has grown considerably from this time last year and we’re still selling season tickets [current figure is just under 1300], so we’re looking forward to the new season.”
Neither he nor Gary Marshall of the new sponsors would comment on the figures involved in the sponsorship deal, but Marshall suggested that far from making sports sponsorship a more unattractive proposition the current credit crunch had actually helped Edinburgh secure a new sponsor as it forced companies to advertise themselves more firmly.
Andy Robinson, the Edinburgh coach, also confirmed a new signing in Heriot’s winger Marc Teague. The 27-year-old has been a star of the club scene for several years, but not quite managed to convince pro team coaches he is worth a full-time contract.
However, after watching him train with the squad in recent weeks, Robinson has agreed a six-month contract with a view to making it longer-term if he proves he can handle the step-up and daily intensity.
Teague said: “I’ve always said I would like to play professional rugby, but I’ve not got down about it not coming before now. You just work hard and see what happens and now I’ve been given the chance, which, I think, shows the door is never closed on club players.”
Robinson has kept his team to play Wasps in this afternoon’s friendly match (2.30pm kick-off) under wraps, but Teague will not feature and Jim Hamilton, Ross Rennie and John Houston are out with injury. Chris Paterson makes his return to Edinburgh colours, however, against a club he faced in the Guinness Premiership while with Gloucester last season.
Robinson explained that he had deliberately planned two tough pre-season matches – Edinburgh head to Bath next week – rather than games his side could win by 40 points. He wanted to test their physical ability against the best in the UK and the mental ability of his players to cope with such a rigorous test – they endured a double session yesterday – while they are still going through full-on pre-season training.
The full article contains 651 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
