The Winner of Club of the Year in 2009 was Saracens, beating stiff opposition from Worcester Warriors and Northampton Saints. The judging panel included Derek Wyatt MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union Group, Paul Farrelly MP and Andy Reed MP. Mark McCafferty, the Chief Executive of Premier Rugby and Miriam Sherlock, editor of SportBusiness Magazine were also part of the panel.
The SportBusiness CSR Award was a new award for 2009, run in conjunction with our very own SportBusiness magazine. It is designed to reward the efforts of the club with the best community marketing scheme helping to generate tangible brand or business results. This year’s winner was Saracens for their two year Dance programme which has seen over 16,000 children and young people trial dance classes. The judges commended it for its ‘clear focus’, the ‘scale of its reach’ and its ability to ’meld private and public sector’ agendas.
Miriam Sherlock, the editor of SportBusiness, said: In a particularly strong field it was the Saracens Dance programme that proved to be the most remarkable. Reaching out to those outside of rugby’s usual audience Saracens worked hard in gaining large numbers of involved youngsters in a scheme that gives positive and tangible results in increased sponsorship, ticket sales and in revenue from holiday camp schemes. As well as providing fitness and health benefits it also encouraged a strong link to the team through work with the match day cheerleaders and subsidised tickets and promotions. There is no doubt that some youngsters on this programme will become lifelong Saracens fans. A big well done to all the staff and volunteers who clearly work so hard on this."
Parliamentary CSR Awards from Glasshouse Partnership on Vimeo.
In 2008, Saracens and Bath Rugby shared ‘Club of the Year.’ And the awards were expanded to include two new awards, the Impact Award and Innovation Award, in addition to community ‘Club of the Year.’ Newcastle Falcons won the Impact Award for their Touch Rugby Programme and Bristol Rugby won the Innovation Award for their Inferno Programme. The judges in 2008 included Derek Wyatt MP, Paul Farrelly MP, Andy Reed MP, Louise Poole, Head of Sponsorship at EDF Energy, Mark McCafferty, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby, and Tanja Rasmussen, Community Investment Campaign Director at BITC.
In 2007, Newcastle Falcons won for the joined up approach they have taken to working with other community partners (notably the RFU) and the way their community work is central to their vision of the club’s long term future. The judges included Andy Reed MP, former England rugby international Derek Wyatt MP, Mike Horah, Head of Social Marketing at the Department of Health, and Catherine Sermon, Community Investment Campaign Director at Business in the Community.
Saracens won in 2006 for the depth of their commitment to community and local partnerships, the effectiveness of their work and their willingness to adapt and learn from the work they do. Andy Reed MP, Graham Russell, Business in the Community and John Bromley, Department of Health were among the judges that year.
