As part of the build up to rugby 2016/17, QBE has been announced as Principal Partner of the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand 2017.
In 2015 QBE supported England Rugby, it's coaching ethos, grassroots rugby and the Rugby World Cup with an initiative called "2015 in 2015". In the early summer of 2016, QBE have again recognised the rugby world and its team ethos by announcing a Principal Partner relationship with the British & Irish Lions, who are recognised as the greatest touring team in world sport.
Every four years, the finest players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales come together to challenge the very best teams from the Southern Hemisphere. Perhaps even more important than the undoubted individual skills of the players, two factors are critical to the Lions’ success - inspirational leadership and excellent teamwork.
Whether in sport or business these two critical success factors dominate strategy and execution. Some describe this as the Business of Winning.
The team at QBE made the following comments on their new website.
There are obvious similarities with the way the Lions backroom team of coaches, tour management, operations team, medical and legal staff come together for a common purpose and QBE's vision to be the insurer that builds the strongest partnerships with customers. That's why QBE has been officially designated as supporting the Lion's management team, or the team, behind the team.
The challenges faced and ultimately the rewards achieved closely mirror our own business approach. Our customers expect a one-team approach, working with us in close and enduring partnerships. By using our global footprint, along with our local knowledge, we can give our customers the confidence to achieve their ambitions.
This commitment and track record in rugby came to the attention of TalkingRugbyUnion in 2015 as the rugby world worked towards RWC2015. The competition organisers talked about legacy and the asked grassroots clubs to embrace this. Many clubs and county boards found it difficult to turn the words into positive actions. A shining light that clubs shared with TalkingRugbyUnion was the QBE initiative for 2015 in 2015.
Thanks to QBE’s commitment and investment, the initiative has increased the number of Level 2 coaches in England by 25%. The 2,015 coaches trained through the QBE Coaching Club will positively impact 50,000 players across the country. Over the next four years more than one million hours of coaching will be delivered by QBE coaches, which if being paid for would equate to £20 million. As 96% of coaches work alongside other coaches, it is expected that there will be a knowledge transfer from the 2,015 QBE coaches to over 4,000 other coaches across the country.
"This is such an exciting year for rugby and we’re delighted to have achieved our target, working with QBE Insurance, of recruiting and training 2,015 new Level 2 coaches," said RFU Rugby Development Director Steve Grainger. "We put this programme in place back in 2012 because coaching is a crucial factor in developing, sustaining and increasing participation in our sport. With the World Cup here in England the spotlight will be on rugby and we want to ensure that we have enough coaches in place to deal with what we hope will be an influx of new players into rugby."
The initiative has gone far beyond English rugby and at TalkingRugbyUnion we focussed last month on QBE's impact on rugby in Iran with Liam Dunseath.
When Rugby and Business work as a team the results on and off the pitch can be life changing. Teamwork of this nature can be truly extraordinary
