At the Springboks England game on Saturday, my mate Francois De Wet (#DieSonSienAlles), pointing at signage in the stadium, asked me if I knew anything about these ‘new sponsors’ for the Kings ascension into Super Rugby in 2013.
Looking at the signage it certainly seemed as though the Eastern Province Rugby Union, the Kings and Uitenhage based Goodyear had sprung a hijack marketing coup with signage all along the entire east sidewall of the stadium advertising Goodyear, Kings and 2013.
Fellow scribes were also in the dark and pretty miffed that something like this could have been ‘sprung upon us’ without prior notification. After all we are told ad nauseum that the Kings support the local press and want us to get the scoop first in recognition of all the publicity and support that we have given EP Rugby.
According to Goodyear spokesperson, Lize Hayward; “The Goodyear signage seen on the sidewall of the stadium was a once-off offer from the EP Rugby Union, to advertise for both the test match and forthcoming Currie Cup games.” lize clarified further by saying; “No official relationship exists between Goodyear and the Kings. The Goodyear branding should not be taken as a sign of any sponsorship relationship.”
To which I replied; “Maybe Goodyear should consider entering into a sponsorship relationship?”
