robinrovers10 wrote:
One thing these mugs/phone covers show is the quality of sponsorship Rugby League teams used to get. Brands like Virgin, Norweb, JCT600, McEwens Lager, Tetleys bitter, British Coal, Vladivar Vodka, ICI, Greenalls brewery, Even Oldham were sponsored by Castlemaine XXXX!!
Mostly Beer brands. Now clubs generally don’t want to be associated with a beer as their main sponsor. Often brands that were based locally as well. Now most of the local based brands are owned by multi-national companies who are looking at wider markets than a small town in the North.
I also don’t think we do as badly with sponsors as some people think.
St Helens - Cash Converters/Crabbies
Wigan - 188 Bet
Warrington - One Energy
Castleford - CBR Engineering
Hull FC - Goldthorpe Property Group
Huddersfield - Bond It
Catalans - Sud de France
Wakefield - One World Travel Group/Wakefield Hospice
Leeds - Leeds Building Society
Hull KR - MLS Group
Salford - Mitsubishi Motors
Widnes - Beat the Scrum
Whilst there are some weak ones in there (Widnes & Wakefield spring to mind) there’s some decent ones too. Could they be better? Undoubtedly. But then I don’t think the sponsors “back in the day” are particularly that much better.