{"id":9615,"date":"2012-04-04T15:28:53","date_gmt":"2012-04-04T13:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/?p=9615"},"modified":"2012-04-04T15:28:53","modified_gmt":"2012-04-04T13:28:53","slug":"uj-lead-with-varsity-cup-sportainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/uj-lead-with-varsity-cup-sportainment\/","title":{"rendered":"UJ Lead With Varsity Cup Sportainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

His team may have bowed out against Maties in the semi-final of the FNB Varsity Cup but they led the way in terms of “sportainment”, said University of Johannesburg rugby coach Hugo van As.<\/p>\n

Drawing on the American college football model, the university was the first to introduce a tunnel run, among a host of other crowd-pleasing entertainment.<\/p>\n

These included fireworks and the “UJ Bring it Home” song, which was specifically written for the event and performed by hip-hop artist D Smith.<\/p>\n

“Our home games were special in that it fed the team’s morale,” said Van As. “It was a huge step and we were the leaders in that.”<\/p>\n

With three out of four home victories, one of which was the record-setting 93-0 triumph over Tshwane University of Technology, he said what happened off the field had been as important as on.<\/p>\n

“There was always a good vibe but our marketing side really stepped it up this year. On Monday nights we had a full house at our Westdene stadium.”<\/p>\n

Van As said the quality of both the rugby and entertainment on offer continued to narrow the divide between university-level sport and the professional Super 15 franchises.<\/p>\n

“This year, the team and the supporters drew closer to one another and they actually became a unit, like what happens at Loftus with the Bulls.”<\/p>\n

He said the culture of the university was changing and that supporters were learning to really understand and appreciate the game and get behind the players.<\/p>\n

According to UJ Sport marketing manager Flip van Zyl, the sportainment model focused on providing both a good game and outstanding entertainment.<\/p>\n

“People attend our events for different reasons and there’s always something for everybody on game day. We have activities for students, staff, parents, kids, schools, alumni and the wider community.”<\/p>\n

Van Zyl said the university had looked at what had worked for various American tertiary institutions, such as Iowa and Pennsylvania State universities, as well as professional football sides like the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n

“We used elements of each model and tailored it to come up with a uniquely South African product that would hit home with our spectators.”<\/p>\n

He said the model was built around the idea of creating heroes and traditions, and added that Hoopie the mascot had been a big hit with the up to 8 000-strong crowd.<\/p>\n

“The whole programme and every element, such as the on-screen videos and music, are carefully planned around a single theme. It’s different for every game and there are also free giveaways based on the theme.”<\/p>\n

Van Zyl said UJ’s winning formula was all about the complete game-day experience, from the free shuttle service on arrival to the final whistle.<\/p>\n

“We have a new alumni corner where the ‘Old Boys’ can meet up and network, and a community braai area, where braai packs can be pre-ordered and the fires are ready on arrival.”<\/p>\n

He said sport provided the perfect platform for uniting people and that the Varsity Cup campaign had been aimed at getting the local community and students to stand behind “UJ all the way”.<\/p>\n

“Sport is a brilliant vehicle for carrying your brand and saying something about your values. This year, we decided to focus on pride, passion, precision and perfection, which is what we strive for at UJ Sport.”<\/p>\n

Van Zyl said the real test would be to extend the use of the model to other sporting codes.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen some of the elements we introduced at our events used at other institutions lately and next year most of the universities will probably follow suit.<\/p>\n

“We will just have to keep on making it bigger and better.”<\/p>\n

\"UJ<\/a>
The University of Johannesburg took crowd-pleasing "sportainment" to new heights during this year's FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International. Photo: Swirling Light Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His team may have bowed out against Maties in the semi-final of the FNB Varsity Cup but they led the way in terms of “sportainment”, said University of Johannesburg rugby coach Hugo van As. Drawing on the American college football model, the university was the first to introduce a tunnel run, among a host of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,8293,2611],"class_list":{"0":"post-9615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-johannesburg-2","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-varsity-cup","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9615"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9618,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9615\/revisions\/9618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}