After years of brewing ‘champion players’ on the football playing fields, Carling Black Label has decided to branch into a new sporting arena.
The beer brand has added another property to its stable of sponsorships in the form of the world’s oldest rugby tournament, the Currie Cup.
The new marriage between rugby and Carling Black Label, described by South African Rugby Union president, Mark Alexander as a ‘masculine match made in heaven’, will see Carling becoming the title sponsor and the Currie Cup becoming known as the Carling Currie Cup.
“We are delighted to see Carling Black Label coming on board with what promises to be the strongest version of the tournament in years. What makes the marriage even more interesting is the level of innovation that the ‘champion beer’ has managed to infuse into football.
“We hope we can work together to adapt and build some of the innovations to make a new spin to the game of rugby in this country so as to ensure our rugby-loving public and fans get their money’s worth of rugby entertainment on and off the pitch,” said Alexander during the announcement of the sponsorship at The Venue in Melrose Arch on 3 November.
The seven-team tournament will be a double-round tournament featuring the defending champions Toyota Free State Cheetahs, the DHL Western Province, the Vodacom Blue Bulls, the Cell-C KwaZulu-Natal Sharks, the Emirates Lions, the Phakisa Mpumalanga Pumas and the Tafel Lager Griquas.
The brand’s message for this Carling Currie Cup campaign encourages both consumers and players to ‘Reach for Gold’ as the seven provincial teams battle it out to lift rugby’s most prized trophy.
With Covid-19 having cut short the rugby season by six months, which resulted in the Springboks being withdrawn from defending their Rugby Championship title, this year’s Currie Cup is set to be the most fiercely contested due to the inclusion of the Rugby World Cup-winning Boks that will be on the show, along with their captain Siya Kolisi.
This year’s Carling Currie Cup will be unique to South African fans, not only for the fact that it will be played in front of empty stands due to Covid-19 regulations but because it will also be played through the summer, with games on such unusual days as the Day of Goodwill.
