IRFU ready to dial a new deal with Vodafone

IRFU chief executive Philip Browne confirmed the union has agreed a deal with a new main sponsor which will kick in next summer, but poured cold water on the size and span of the deal which is reportedly with Vodafone.

Reports last month claimed the union had agreed a €50m, ten-year agreement with the mobile phone operator, one that would kick in once the current deal with O2 expires in May. Not the case, claimed Browne, who refused to identify the backer’s identity.

“The situation in relation to sponsorship is we have an excellent sponsorship with Three which runs until the end of the current season. We’re working with their people in relation to the Rugby World Cup and in relation to the Six Nations.

“In relation to sponsorship, yes we have another sponsor in place lined up to take over. I’m not at liberty to say who, but one thing I can say is the figures bandied about in the media of €50m are so totally off the wall that I don’t know where they came from.” The new deal will, nonetheless, improve further an encouraging set of union accounts revealed at last night’s Annual Council meeting.

So confident are the IRFU with the figures, both now and in the years to come, they have announced an extra €3.2m per annum of funding for the provinces and €800,000 more for the domestic game.

The €3.2m is a huge boost to the provincial sides in light of the vast resources available to their English and French counterparts and Browne admitted a significant chuck of the additional money will go towards salaries aimed at keeping and attracting the best players.

“Yeah, that is a fair comment,” he said. “The reality is we are not going to be able to match France. If any of the French clubs go on a shopping spree then they go on a shopping spree. We can’t match them.

“All we can do is do our damnedest to keep the key players that make our provinces competitive and the key players in the national team we want to protect as well because, if we don’t, and have our key international players playing abroad, then we can’t control their game management.”

Union treasurer Tom Grace also acknowledged the increased financial might of clubs in England and France and the difficulties these are creating for the likes of Munster, Leinster and Ulster and remarked: “We’ve got to do our best to compete with this.” Overall, the union’s annual report and accounts reported a surplus of €8.7m due to strong ticket sales, new broadcast and sponsorship agreements and prize-monies.

The latest sale of ten-year Aviva Stadium tickets netted over €9m, significantly greater than expected, and comes just two years since a major shortfall in uptake prompted the union to reveal they would need to borrow to fund that cash deficit over the next six years. Overall, the surplus of 8.7m resulted in a net cash operating surplus for the IRFU of €1.2m (against a €1m deficit in 2013/14) after amortised non-cash income and expenditure were accounted for. The good news was all the more notable in other ways. Expenditure for the 2014/15 period had risen from €62.5m to €65.5m.

Martin O’Sullivan, UL Bohemian,was enrolled the IRFU’s 128th president at the same Council meeting. Browne also confirmed Joe Schmidt’s squad had agreed graded bonuses based on World Cup performances and the union has insured itself against the financial hit that would involve should they win the tournament.