Orange, the global telecommunications brand, will be the major sponsor of the Essendon Football Club for the next three years, it was announced today. The sponsorship will include Essendon senior coach Kevin Sheedy. It will be the first time in AFL history that such an arrangement has been made between a major club sponsor and a senior coach.
“We believe this is an excellent partnership for both the Essendon Football Club and Orange,” Essendon Football Club chief executive Peter Jackson said. “We believe Orange gains significant exposure through its association with one of the highest profile sporting clubs in Australia.
“This sponsorship underpins our strong financial growth over the past two seasons and ensures we can look to the future with great confidence.
“Orange is at the forefront of the telecommunications business and Essendon leads in the AFL. We believe that together our national brands can only be enhanced. It is a company we are proud to be associated with.”
There will be no change to the traditional Essendon Football Club guernsey. “Red and black are entrenched in this club’s history and tradition and there was never any suggestion of such a change, which could only be made with the members’ consent,” Jackson said.
Orange managing director Barry Roberts-Thomson said Essendon would join a diverse group of sporting and artistic bodies supported by the brand including the Formula One Arrows team, Bell Shakespeare and the Sydney Dance Company.
“We are very excited about this partnership between two dynamic businesses that are focused on the pursuit of excellence,” Mr Roberts-Thomson said.
“Orange believes the AFL best matches our sponsorship objectives of building brand awareness with our target audiences in Sydney and Melbourne.
“We are pleased to be joining forces with the reigning premiers – they have an outstanding track record. Essendon has a supporter base that is incredibly committed and demonstrates true loyalty and passion and we at Orange identify with that.
“We’re also delighted that this partnership incorporates the personal sponsorship of Kevin Sheedy, one of the league’s most enduring coaches,” Roberts-Thomson said.
The sponsorship will see Orange together with Essendon Football Club support grass-roots football through junior development programs in Melbourne and Sydney. The details of these programs will be announced prior to the commencement of the 2001 season.
