One of Poole’s newest stores has announced that it will be sponsoring two Bournemouth Rugby players and a community rugby outreach programme this season.
Sport It First on the High Street opened earlier this year and offers a huge selection of top sportswear brands. The building was previously home to Iceland supermarket and has been fully refurbished.
The vital sponsorship will provide Bournemouth Rugby first team players Jordi Wayman and Fiifi Adjaye with the cost of club membership, kit and medical insurance.
“We’re proud to be sponsoring Bournemouth Rugby and investing in local sporting talent. Being able to help Jordi and Fiifi allows them to fully concentrate on playing to the best of their abilities. With our range of exclusive sportswear, we can also kit them out properly,” says George Cole, director of Sport It First.
Bournemouth Rugby player Jordi Wayman, 23, believes that Sport It First’s sponsorship has given him peace of mind: “They’ve kindly sponsored me for the whole of this season. It’s nice to have that backing with club membership, club funding and my medical cover for any injuries. It allows me to play with without worrying about anything.”
Sport It First is also a community sponsor for Bournemouth Rugby’s partnership with Rippa Rugby, which provides rugby coaching into local primary and secondary schools. The programme is currently coaching in 22 schools across the region reaching upwards of 700 children per week through P.E consultancy provision and after-school coaching sessions.
Bournemouth Rugby community rugby manager, Stuart Gallagher says: “There is a big gap in schools where rugby is not on the curriculum, and they don’t have the rugby knowledge or teachers. We’re often in the privileged position of introducing rugby for the first time to growing numbers of children. With sponsorship we can now focus on our key targets of promoting girls’ rugby and helping players from less advantaged backgrounds.”
The community rugby initiative would only be made possible by the support of Bournemouth Rugby’s community patrons.
James Croker, commercial director at Bournemouth Rugby, says: “The community partnership work we do is incredibly significant, and we’re demonstrating that rugby can be a sport for everyone. With record numbers of young people now participating in the game, it’s testament to the generosity of our community patrons such as Sport It First. Rugby has so many wellbeing benefits and with support we’ll continue bringing people together.”
A special discount code of ‘Lions10’ has also been created to celebrate the Sport it First sponsorship with Bournemouth Rugby and can be used by customers.
