Australian Super Rugby franchise the Brumbies has renewed its shirt sponsorship deal with the University of Canberra.
The new one-year deal will cover the 2017 season and will ensure the university’s logo appears on the back of the Brumbies’ home and away jerseys.
The university first partnered with the Brumbies in 2012, and the club’s training base and headquarters are located at the Sporting Commons at the facility’s Bruce campus.
However, the university has not sponsored the team since 2014 following a falling out between ex-Brumbies chief executive Michael Jones and former UC vice-chancellor Stephen Parker.
After Jones and Parker both left their respective positions, the two parties moved to rekindle the partnership.
“I never saw the past as any problem between the two organisations,” Deep Saini, the university’s current vice-chancellor, said, according to the Canberra Times newspaper.
“That was an issue between some individuals, essentially. There was no issue between the Brumbies and the University of Canberra. We are on a continuum of building a relationship. That has never stopped. We may have gone into silence for a moment, but nothing beyond that.”
Since the university first teamed up with the Brumbies, students have benefited from internships with the club and its sport and exercise researchers have also worked with the team’s high-performance staff.
The university’s branding featured on the Brumbies’ shirts for the first time during the team’s 25-17 victory over the Western Force earlier today (Friday).