Premature celebrations backfire on England

THE embarrassing extent of the England rugby team’s kit sponsors Nike’s plans to commemorate the team’s foiled Grand Slam triumph can today be revealed by the Irish Examiner.

Before Ireland shattered their dreams on Saturday, the sports company had commissioned 5,000 special limited editions to be made available in London stores this week.

In an internal memo last week, a Nike executive revealed they would give the England players the t-shirts in the Aviva Stadium “when we win against Ireland on Saturday”.

Nike had also planned to launch a marketing campaign on the back of the would-be triumph around the English capital.

The memo continued: “In the spirit on owning sporting moments, we will also execute a burst of Digital Out-of-Home activity that will start right on the final whistle in over 20 of London’s most prominent underground stations through Digital Escalator Panels and Cross-Track Projections. This will be further amplified through large Transvision screens at Waterloo, Kings Cross, Euston and Charing Cross. This will run throughout the weekend until Monday night catching consumers after the game and peak rush hour times for maximum impact.”

Nike had also created a celebration audio-visual piece, which the Rugby Football Union had agreed to post on their sites in the event of capturing the Slam.

Featuring a montage of players, the segment finished with a caption of the England rose, “Grand Slam Champions 2011” and the company’s swoosh logo.

After Wales fell to France, England claimed the Championship but were denied the ultimate prize following the Irish defeat.

Nike’s premature celebrations brings to mind the “five-in-a-row” t-shirts which were produced before the Kerry footballers’ hopes of achieving the feat were crushed by Offaly in 1982.