Accolade Wines, the UK’s leading wine supplier, announced today that Mud House Wines is now an official sponsor of the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand.
At a joint press briefing Accolade Wines CEO, Paul Schaafsma and the British & Irish Lions COO, Charlie McEwen, confirmed the Lions 2017 tour partnership to an audience of wine and sports media at New Zealand House, London.
Paul Schaafsma commented on the partnership, stating “We are extremely excited to be part of the next British & Irish Lions Tour in New Zealand. A Lions tour is huge, especially one hosted by the World Champions. We are also very proud to be working with our new Mud House brand ambassadors, Sean and Jason, who are here today and I would personally like to thank them for their support so far.”
Former All Black skipper, Sean Fitzpatrick and England’s much loved former winger Jason Robinson, have come on board to support the sponsorship as Mud House brand ambassadors. Both rugby legends were present at the press briefing to help promote the partnership.
Paul continued, “We have high ambitions for our already successful Mud House brand. We’ll be working closely with the British & Irish Lions to activate a £2m support campaign here in the UK and the team in New Zealand will activate our partnership on the ground ahead of the tour next June.”
British & Irish Lions Chief Operating Officer Charlie McEwen said, “We are delighted to partner with Mud House Wines as an official sponsor and wine supplier. Accolade Wines are the premier wine supplier in the UK and to have a quality New Zealand wine such as Mud House is fantastic.”
Accolade Wines has in addition confirmed sponsorship of all Southern Hemisphere rugby coverage, to be broadcast on Sky Sports UK throughout 2016. This includes the Super Rugby, The Rugby Championship, The Mitre 10 Cup (New Zealand) and The Currie Cup (South Africa).
Marketing Director, Amy White said “To support this Sky Sport sponsorship, we have filmed a set of new Mud House idents, starring five legends of rugby who have either played for, or against, the Lions. Sean Fitzpatrick (New Zealand), Jason Robinson (England), Gavin Hastings (Scotland), Shane Williams (Wales) and Paul Wallace (Ireland) all feature with the strapline; ‘Rugby and Wine – It’s as clear as Mud’ playing on the not so obvious relationship between wine and rugby in a premium yet jovial way”.
The Lions Tour of New Zealand will consist of 10 games played throughout the country between June 3 and July 8, including three Test matches against the three-time World Champions.
