I see Shane has cuts ties with Kingspan as a sponsor in the wake of the Grenfell Tower report.
Pressure now mounting on Cavan Co. Board as well.
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How have Ulster rugby responded?
Their sponsorship ceased at the end of last season, before the report came out. Kingspan Stadium is currently Ravenhill again for the moment.
From what I read, Ulster rugby are phasing out sponsorship when the deal ends, or maybe have done already.
It ended abruptly last year
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https://twitter.com/sjamcbride/status/1832323865873150434?s=46
Sam McBride has been ranting about Ulster rugbys continued association with Kingspan all week. I’m clearly not paying to read the article but presumably there is still some association?
Has their role in it not been known for years?
It has, but kicking the can down the road was justified by the need to get the final report which has now been issued. I’m told Ulster rugby extended their agreement in January for an extra year as they couldn’t find another sponsor to step up, so the stadium remains Kingspan Stadium rather than Ravenhill for the season ahead.
How much of Sam’s annoyance with all of this relates to Grenfell, and how much relates to the geographic origins of Kingspan, is open for debate.
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Will this be the end of Kingspan?
I hope not for JJ’s sake.
doubtful. They are a huge company that pretty much have a monopoly on the cladding and roofing market here in particular. Their insulation is a premium priced brand that has numerous competitors, but their insulated panelling is huge globally. In terms of their overall pull, less than half of their turnover is in Ireland/UK/Western Europe, and the rest of Europe at about a quarter. America and Asia/Australia/NZ is over 30% of their €8bn turnover. Losing a few sponsorship things will not drastically affect them IMO.
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I meant their brand reputation etc.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/grenfell-grou
I never followed up / bothered to find out which John Petrie was sacked but it seems it was partly to do with the Kingspan deal.
I doubt they care what Paddy Joe in Galway sitting on twitter thinks of them, as long as Sisk, JP, Winthrop etc keep using them for their industrial units and data centres roofing and cladding. It’ll be a stain on them, but ultimately forgotten about and moved on by the many.
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