RaboDirect PRO12 - new Magners Sponsor

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http://www.munsterrugby.ie/news/9118.php

RaboDirect New League Sponsors
8 June 2011, 10:45 am
By The Editor
It was announced today that RaboDirect, the online banking arm of Rabobank, will become the new sponsor of Rugby's premier professional club competition in Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.
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From the start of the new rugby season, the competition formerly known as Magners League will become the RaboDirect PRO12.

Commenting on the new four year sponsorship John Feehan, Chief Executive of RaboDirect PRO12 said: “We are delighted to welcome RaboDirect as our new title sponsor alongside our new brand PRO12 . Securing the support of an international business with the reputation of the Rabobank Group will raise the profile of the RaboDirect PRO12 and enhance the investment in the competition. The Rabobank Group are active and engaged sponsors of a number of sporting properties worldwide, including Holland, Italy and Australia and we look forward to working with them.

We are very excited to welcome RaboDirect as our new sponsor at a time when we are launching our new Brand. Our competition has experienced a huge growth over the last few years and it was time to move it to the next level. Our new brand, the PRO12, encapsulates the structure, growth and energy of our competition. We look forward to working with RaboDirect, developing and nurturing the RaboDirect PRO12 competition for many years to come.”

Hi all, I've added a poll for the nickname. If anyone has any other suggestions post them as comments and I'll add them as soon as I can.

I voted for Other as I think the Other League sounds good
[Someone changed it to Brian ]

That has got to be the worst league name in the history of sport.

Cari wrote:

Kiwireddevil wrote:I guess we need a new name to stand alongside the Jeff. The Maggie?

Or to pick a Celtic name, the Owen/Eoin/Ewen?

Genius! The Euan/Eoin/Owain it is! Oh wait....is there an Italian name like that? Actually I think The Rab would be OK?

Pro12 - sounds like a medicine you take for mental health problems.

I looked it up, Owain is derived from the latin "Eugenius", meaning Well-born. So Eugene/Eugenio in Italian.

HammerofThunor wrote:I voted for Other as I think the Other League sounds good
[Someone changed it to Brian ]

Sorry Thunor, my fault, I'll enable vote-changing for you , give me a couple of minutes.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:I voted for Other as I think the Other League sounds good
[Someone changed it to Brian ]

Sorry Thunor, my fault, I'll enable vote-changing for you , give me a couple of minutes.

"Other" is back as an option, you'll just need to "cancel" your original vote.

The Rabo bit is bad but sure the football league in England is the Barclays premiership, and nobody calls it that.

I don’t mind the colour scheme either, it’s at least team neutral which is more than can be said of Magners with their gold and black (AHEM! Ospreys) livery hung all over the RDS for the final last year.

I’m pretty sure the sponsor will have no say whatsoever as to where the final is held, when it’s held or generally anything to do with the running of the league. That will be down to Celtic Rugby all the way.

Given that they will probably give the man of the match award and their Dutch you can expect Tim Visser to pick up each one, whether he’s playing or not.

Pfffft, a vote???? We didn't vote for The Jeff!

You'll be telling me even the women can vote next.

You can cancel your vote! This truly is the land of milk and honey

Robocop for me, just to be different like.

The Pro 12 - what a new brand name! Whoever came up with it obviously did a lot of research to make sure it was original and memorable.

When you hear it first, you could be forgiven for thinking:

Is it audio hardware?
A photographer's bag?
How about an Optical Character Recognition software package?
Or a runner's backpack?
Maybe an air conditioner?
A non-stick frying pan?
Could it be a box of stickers?
A laptop?
A speaker?
A harmonica?
An audio mixer?
Even a car roof box
Or a Filipino police station,
Or is it just a plain old rugby union tournament?

"Like NI's Pro 53, Creamware's Pro 12 ASB instrument ('Authentic Sound Box', apparently) is modelled on the Rev 3 Prophet 5. The big difference between NI's and Creamware's emulations is that the Pro 12 is a hardware unit (hooray!), bristling with real knobs and buttons (double hooray!)"

"The Solist Pro 12 is small enough to fit into the player's hands. Though there are two holes more, it can be played fully cupped when holding a microphone."

"Peavey Pro 12 Low Frequency 12" Speaker Driver"

"The Pro 12 protects two digital SLRs with lenses attached, multiple additional lenses and accessories. The front pocket features Tamrac’s U.S. patented Memory & Battery Management System™ that uses red flags to identify available memory cards and batteries from ones that are used up. "

"Readiris™ Pro 12 is a powerful OCR solution designed for professional users. "

"The Race Pro 12 is an elite lightweight hydration pack. The large stretch mesh pocket on the rear is multi-accessible for storage large enough to hold a helmet."

"Ultra Pro 12 Pocket for Stickers max 2 1/4 x 2 1/2 Pages 100 Pages"

"the MovinCool Office Pro 12 Portable Air Conditioner is great for smaller spaces or for situations where energy conservation is critical. "

"Cuisinart MultiClad Pro 12 Non-Stick Skillet w/Helper - customers looking for more items to add to their MultiClad Pro collections will find them with Cuisinarts Non-Stick Stainless skillets. "

"Scosche TK12 Pro 12V Installer Tool Kit personal Care Product"

"Agora PRO 12 Ultra Portable Laptop Computer - Windows Compatible. Everything you need straight out of the box"

"The Yakima SkyBox Pro 12 is part of Yakima's feature packed SkyBox Pro series of roof top cargo boxes."

"The Philippine National Police Chief Director General Raul M Bacalzo led the Groundbreaking Ceremony of Police Regional Office 12 (PRO 12) for the construction of PRO 12 Main Gate last Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at Tambler, General Santos City."

"Magix Movie Edit Pro 12 is the all-in-one solution for video editing from the beginner to the experienced video hobbyist."


Now you know why they stuck RaboDirect in front of it - no one will forget that name.

I Understand In Ireland its going to be dual sponsored by the IMF

Is the Pro12 really winning? Come on people, it;s just a lighthearted forum nickname for it, no need to be so serious, have some fun.

Lewis - Leagues of Eire, Wales, Italy and Scotland (Ulster being part of Eire for the purposes of easy acronyms)

:run1::run2:

Rabo is the Spanish slang for coq...

I can't wait for a bit of RaboDirect PRO 12 rugby!

Fecking hell surely thats the line out of the beginning of a bad sketch show?

Boyne - you saying the new RaboDirect is sportif <snigger>

Cari wrote:Never heard of them!

Just goes to show...I had actually heard of Magners cider even though I'd never drunk it.

So what will we call it? The Rabo?

would be careful as "rabo" means bottom/backside in spanish or portuguese

How do I change my vote from other to Robocop ?

whocares wrote:

Cari wrote:

So what will we call it? The Rabo?

would be careful as "rabo" means bottom/backside in spanish or portuguese

Doesn't seem to cause a problem, and one must assume no embarrassment to their parent company. Rabobank sponsors a major cycling team, including in the Vuelta (Tour of Spain race)

After the Italian sides joined the league I expected one of the Italian car manufacturers to be the new sponsors or at least a Italian company.

Worst league name ever but still we should be able to come up with a decen nickname. Or just call it the Celtic league.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:How do I change my vote from other to Robocop ?

You should see a "cancel vote" link somewhere at the bottom of the poll. Click that, then vote again

So 'arsedirect' is the name of our new league?

Sounds about right considering what the Irish teams appear to do the other teams in the competition.

THE "Clearly better then the Jeff league"
THE "Season Long Ireland Training Camp League"

I jest...

Seriously Call it "THE DORCE" heavy D4 accent is required for correct pronunciation (which i dont have)

The Rambo Pro11 + Aironi

I think a simple

The League

would be best. The others need names; The League doesn't.

Being a pedant, RaboDirect PRO12 are the new sponsor of Celtic Rugby, not the new Magners Sponsor

A few more for the poll:

"De Keltische Liga"

"RoboCelts"

"The Rab C 12's"

"Rabs 12"

"The Pro"

"The Rabners"

"The Twelve"

And my personal favourite:

The RaboDirect Dumb Tog Claws Pro 12 !!!

Sorry folks. But the name sounds too close to "Robberbank PRO12". How about that as an interesting coincidence. Banks and robbers.

So what do we call the league now? The Robbers? The Bankers? The Criminals? The PRO12, sounds like either a crimilal gang of 12 perpetrators or a group of 12 ladies of the evening.

Where does Nesbitt come from? Not remotely connected to the name. But this will be hard.

Since rabobank is Dutch, maybe we call the league "The Tulips"?
I read the sponsorship is for 4 years. Wouldn't it be better if the sponsor was Superman comics? Then we could call them the Men of Steel.

I guess that's variation on the Irish stating they were "robbed"

We are blessed to get Rabobank as our sponsor. Now the Clogs are running things, I vil expect all promotional and other standards to go up, Ja. And I hope it extends to the Rabo Cops - the Refs. Rabo dont mess around. They will expect their newest "product" to perform. I hope this permeates through it over the next few years and we put Jeff and Pierre in their platz.

Let's be honest here (Rabo wont like it) - but it will end up being called the PRO12. That constant wont change with sponsors. Goodbye MabeL. Hello PRO12.

Gibson, I find it very strange a Dutch bank would even know about rugby.

It's obviously good for us, but is it good for them?

greybeard wrote:Gibson, I find it very strange a Dutch bank would even know about rugby.

It's obviously good for us, but is it good for them?

Grey,
One thing they know about is money and organisation. And as suprising as you may think, NL has a healthy smattering of well-run clubs around the country. This will help generate more interest at national level in the comp. I've been promoting it (at a far lower pub-level) amongst everyone I meet and they are fascinated by the game. Most of them now closely watch the Heino. And they love the 6-N. All are now Leinster fans too and want to start traveling with them on away games. They owe me.

And... where do you think Heineken comes from? 8)

I actually think its the best thing to happen the Celtic-Italian league since its' inception. That and the Italians joining us of course.

The Robert

My only concern is whether or not Magners will still be served at Ravenhill. I will be gutted if it isnt!

Its really clever when you think about it. They are utilising an established, 4 Country comp, to spread and promote their name within them. Expect their Online-banking arm, to spread its tentacles to Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Limerick Rome, Cardiff, et all - on the back of it, in the next few years.

It is obvious that most posters had never even heard of them before now. They know now.
It started back in the day, as a well run Agri Bank. Really big in 3rd World agriculture and growing. They are now HUGE and healthy - which kind of runs against the failed banking grain right now. They did not fall for it and have strong due-diligence built in. Sounds like just what the old ML needs as a backer.

One thing is for sure... they are not doing it for de craic.

Gibbo,
Don't forget that the are extremely well-known in cycling circles;the Rabobank team has been plying its trade for years now,so Italy will not be a new conquest,however,non-continental(avoid insularity comments:whistle:) Europe is wide open.

Very true Mick. Very true mon frere. In France,Belgium and Spain too. I think they may find rich-pickings in what's left of the other 3's banking systems.

Rabobank is Dutch I thought it belonged to some Arab Knob who was into anagrams.

Cymroglan wrote:Rabobank is Dutch I thought it belonged to some Arab Knob who was into anagrams.

Wetting meself

Gibson wrote:
Grey,
One thing they know about is money and organisation. And as suprising as you may think, NL has a healthy smattering of well-run clubs around the country. This will help generate more interest at national level in the comp. I've been promoting it (at a far lower pub-level) amongst everyone I meet and they are fascinated by the game. Most of them now closely watch the Heino. And they love the 6-N. All are now Leinster fans too and want to start traveling with them on away games. They owe me.

Fair enough, good points. I guess Guinness wouldn't care too much for Sumo wrestling, but given the chance to sponsor it and sell its product to a load of drink mad Japanese they'd take it up in the blink of an eye.

Oh and excellent work converting the locals to the chosen province!

Gibson wrote:And... where do you think Heineken comes from? 8)

I've never been sure. My current theory is it's the liquidised contents of a dead badgers stomach.

I've never been sure. My current theory is it's the liquidised contents of a dead badgers stomach.

at least there'd be a flavour to it

[quote="greybeard"]

Gibson wrote:

Gibson wrote:And... where do you think Heineken comes from? 8)

I've never been sure. My current theory is it's the liquidised contents of a dead badgers stomach.

Oh that's soo true man. Can't stand the stuff. They marketed it well globally. Which is a feat in itself, considering it's urine.

Proper Belgian and German beers for moi. And a daycent pint of Guinness if I can get it.

And dont get me started on French "beer".

Thank feic everything else in that stunning country rocks drink & food-wise. 8)

No Belgian nor German beers, please. Far too strong. I'm currently tippling on the wonders of African beers.

Lovely. Had a few Ethiopian beers. From a husk. Didnt want to be rude and ask for a glass. Nice stuff. Great food too. All for 6 euros. And I think I was ripped-off.

Since 13 is BOD, the PRO12 could be ROD as it'll be dominated by the Irish anyway?

The Rabbit.
Or the rabbit league. That's what it morphed into in conversation today anyway.

Who cares what it's called, at lease it has a sponser. Hopefully this money will continue to support the professional game in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

PS
Before they sponsored the Celtic Leauge, I had not heard of Magners. It certainly worked for them!