At LIG we want to support out local community and when we saw how Widnes Vikings are supporting men, women, and children we wanted to help as a sponsor of the club. Here’s Widnes Vikings Commercial Manager Sarah Hunter to tell us more about how the club are delivering on their community promise, and how sponsorship form supporters is so important.
“We are Widnes Vikings – we are are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire who currently compete in the Betfred Championship, playing our home fixtures at the DCBL Stadium in Halton.
A club steeped in history; we were originally founded in 1895 and were one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union – making us one of the world’s first rugby league teams and in 1989 we became the first official World Club champions.
Our vision as a club is to transform the lives of our community through sport and to do so by providing meaningful and inspirational opportunities for all to engage with the club at all levels from match day through to our community foundation, The Widnes Vikings Sport Foundation. But we can’t do this without the support of our commercial partners and sponsors.
Vikings Sports Foundation run a whole range of inclusive initiatives that give people from our community the chance to engage in physical, social, health and well-being programmes to improve their overall fitness.
Our passion is to develop the engagement of Rugby League in our town, we are now starting to grow in our delivery in schools, new social touch programmes, developing walking rugby and meeting the demand of the growth of our Women’s team, with hope of creating a Girl’s programme to build a strong pathway for our Women’s first team.
Learning Disability Super League has continued to grow post covid-19, our players are passionate, dedicated and work extremely hard to break down barriers to play the sport they all love. Our LDSL team have participated in numerous festivals across the country, enjoying the highs and lows of the game. The 2022 season enabled Vikings Sports Foundation to host a national festival at the DCBL stadium, this was a huge eye-opener not just for our players but for their family and friends. The Rugby League World Cup provided a vast amount of opportunity for our LDSL team to become volunteers in various roles, educating them into the world of work, developing knowledge of the sport and getting players excited for tournament. We have seen increased numbers in LDSL has improved each year, we would with over 30 people each week at training and have improved our delivery in SEND schools across Halton to develop numbers further – this interaction has led us to providing once in a lifetime opportunities for our players, their passion for the sport is incredible and we love being part of their journey.
Integral to Vikings Sports Foundation is engagement with the younger generation, we consistently provide sporting programmes for young people in our community. Creating strong working relationships with Primary & Secondary schools, community clubs and Riverside College to ensure Rugby League is a pivotal sport in our community. We offer sports camps every school holiday, we provide nutritious lunches and give young people the chance to take part in multi sports, developing confidence, self-esteem, and leadership skills. Our coaching staff and players are always willing to coach, teach and encourage the next Rugby League superstar in our community, the younger generation idolise our players and coaching staff, Vikings Sports Foundation utilise these opportunities to keep engagement high. Our sports camps over the years have helped us engage with over 300 young people, we love to share our enjoyment of the game and believe it is crucial for young people to develop confidence, knowledge, and teamwork through a variety of ways. We have developed relationships with all education establishments across the borough and hope for this to continue each year.
Our men’s mental health programme Extra-Time runs weekly at from the DCBL stadium, this offers the opportunity for men in the surrounding areas to come to a safe environment, to meet, chat and listen to guest speakers informing members of their experiences with mental health and demonstrating how they have overcome barriers to beat any anxieties they may have suffered with.
We are always looking to improve our programmes and diversify our offer for the people of Halton.”
Learn more about the Vikings Sports Foundation. (Widnes Vikings Rugby League Football Club | Official website)