Commercial Board Insight – Part 2

Continuing our conversation with Niall FitzGerald KBE, Chairman of the Munster Rugby Commercial Board. Here he discusses the immediate projects of the Board and what it’s like to work hand in hand with a true legend of the game in Munster.

A native of Limerick, Niall was formerly Chairman and CEO of Unilever, Chairman of Reuters and Chairman of the British Museum and has chaired the Commercial Board since its inception in 2013. Click here to read Part 1 of our Commercial Board Insight where he explains the function of the Board within Munster Rugby and it’s achievements to date.

In his duties with the Board, Niall works closely with former Munster player and captain, and current Commercial Ambassador with the province, Doug Howlett.

“Working with Doug is an absolute delight, not only is he a great player, but a great personality and a very fine human being. He is a great ambassador for Munster, people respond to him very well. He has an easy way about him and is incredibly humble. When travelling with Doug people recognise him very often, so you could say I have a new role as the photographer for Doug and the fans who wish to have their picture taken with him.”

Niall also discusses the immediate initiatives that the Board will focus on in the coming months.

“We want to extend the Patrons Programme. There are currently two large corporate patrons and about thirty individual patrons. My view is that, if we do it properly, there’s no reason why we can’t expand it to at least two hundred or even three hundred patrons over time. Our Diaspora Programme can be widened to become a worldwide programme.

“We also want to introduce what will be known as the Friends Programme for the diaspora, not only for the funding of ongoing activities but for capital commitments such as the Single Training Centre in UL.

“We are also developing a High Performance Institute as part of a joint venture with an American company which specialises in running programmes for corporates around the whole area of physical and mental fitness, nutrition, etc. Munster are currently finishing negotiations with them to be the licensee holder for this programme in Europe and it’s a very logical fit with the club. When up and running, companies will be able to bring their staff on team building courses that are much deeper and broader than more conventional approaches – getting staff to understand what they need to do to enhance their physical fitness, emotional wellbeing, nutritional profile and more. The courses will be run over the course of three days at the new Single Training Centre and the expertise will be provided by Munster staff in the areas of fitness, nutrition, high performance, etc.

“Elsewhere, we will continually strive to improve in the areas of ticketing and customer retention, maximising the potential of stadia through events other than matches, and having a state of the art digital face to the world through our website and social media channels, allowing us to connect and interact with every current and potential Munster fan around the world.”