5 minute read
Try and Succeed
Ulster Rugby CEO, Jonny Petrie.
sUCCEED T r y a n d
Jonny Petrie has just celebrated a year at the helm of Ulster Rugby as its CEO. Here he talks to Emma Deighan about how the professional club is always open for business and why grassroots rugby is essential to the success of the province’s biggest sports team.
Jonny Petrie is no stranger to the workings of a rugby team. The former
Glasgow and Scotland captain has had his fair share of on-the-field success.
Perhaps more new to him is the behindthe-scene workings of the club, a role he’s thrown himself into headfirst since December 2018. And so far so good but his work is far from done he says.
“I came in off the back of a fairly tough few years for the club,” begins the former international star. “But now there has been a transformation and we need to take that across all areas of the business. It’s about prioritising what we are.
“When you come out of a career of professional sport everyone says you have transferrable skills and you do, but when I went into corporate life I had to figure out how to use those in a different environment and that took a while to do. I stepped away and learned more about myself and it’s been great for me to come back into a role like this. Yes, it’s partly off the back of a long career in professional rugby, but actually doing what I do is as much as result of what I did when I retired from the game. Of course you have to have credibility in the rugby sphere, but you have to be able to run a reasonably sized business and this fits well with me; I feel like I’ve slotted into the right place.”
After retiring from professional rugby in 2007 Jonny spent almost seven years with SSE as Head of Sponsorship. This role was followed by Senior Corporate Affairs and Commercial Operations Manager roles with Scottish Rugby before taking up the Managing Director position at Edinburgh Rugby, after which he relocated to Northern Ireland to take up his current post.
He breaks down the corporate workings of Ulster Rugby into three areas; “the high performance area, a responsibility for the amateur game, and marketing and operations”.
“It’s making sure we have a winning team on the field and a good corporate business that spends well and drives revenue and that’s been a big challenge, but it’s been positive and we can demonstrate growth,” he adds.
Among the major business contracts since he joined the club has been the most recent deal with Openreach. The club has also retained its Bank of Ireland and Kingspan agreements.
“That’s really encouraging that those big sponsors see the value of partnering with us. They’ve been able to incorporate the association with rugby into their own marketing campaigns too and there have time. And after a period when we saw shrinking revenues, it’s important we resource ourselves properly and we’re seeing the results. There’s been consistent performance in our crowds, in attendances and corporate interest and everything is moving in the right direction but we can’t be complacent so we are building off what we’ve got. It’s a constant drive and I’ve got my foot on the pedal and have a good team,” he explains.
It’s a work ethic that bodes well for him and the rest of the corporate team’s fiveyear financial plan.
“I set out an initial two-year plan that would focus on key pillars including the
been some great ads along the way,” continues Jonny.
Of note is Openreach’s new campaign that is running across multiple media platforms. It shouts about that connection between technology, sport and the community with an emotive televised commercial thrown into the mix.
“I think that signals that we’re working with our sponsors. There is real tangible value there for our partners and it’s been great to see those wins,” adds Jonny.
He’s quick to point out that Ulster Rugby is by no means a closed shop when it comes to working with other businesses, adding; “That’s our general message, we’re very much open for business. This is not just about the really top end sponsorships that we have, and we’re very proud to work with a range of big brands, but we have opportunities that sit across all levels of partnerships; there are always ways that people can get involved with Ulster Rugby.
“The benefits of a sponsorship for a firm is its association, the business networking and hospitality opportunities, the ability to engage and look after customers, the money can’t buy opportunities and there is a fit for every company.”
Today Jonny says there is a “huge amount of positivity” around the club.
“We’ve freshened up with some senior players having moved on or retired. We’ve changed the performance support group and overhauled a lot in a short space of
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growth of the business, creating a winning team and the growth of our people. For me, I know what sport success looks like on the field. It’s a packed-out stadium, growing commercial revenues and a positive perception of the team and more people playing at grassroots level and we are getting that right on a daily basis.”
Not being an NI native hasn’t left Jonny excluded from the illusion that rugby has long been dubbed as a middle-class sport here. He’s acutely aware that the club’s grassroots work has to venture beyond the usual confines of years gone by.
He says: “Very clearly rugby has been aligned with certain communities, so a lot of our investment is in the youth game and we’re looking at how we make sure the game is played across the community and looking at ways people can participate in the sport. We want those kids who don’t go to a traditional rugby-playing school to have access to opportunities. We want as many people to play the game as possible. We want to see the Jacob Stockdales coming in from a different route and playing at the top level.
“This is a business that you need to work from the top down but also the bottom end up. And both drive revenues. We need that success at the top end to support grassroots, but we need growth at the bottom end to get people to connect with the sport,” he concludes.
