Young rugby teams tackle SPAR NI Primary School Festival at Kingspan Stadium

The event was sponsored by Spar NI, which signed on as Ulster Rugby’s first community partner and the primary sponsor of Ulster Rugby’s Mini Rugby in 2022, enabling the club to bring activities to hundreds of schools and clubs across Northern Ireland over the past two years.

Eight schools from across Northern Ireland attended each day of the festival, with a total of 480 pupils taking part over the four days. Each team got the opportunity to visit the stadium and play against three teams of 15 players from other schools.

The festival works to promote fun and fairness to the children, with no scores being kept or winners awarded, the players can simply enjoy the experience of playing at the world-class venue.

Bronagh Luke, from Spar NI, commented: “It’s at the heart of the Spar NI brand to support our local communities and this partnership allows us to do that by not only supporting the next generation of rugby players, coaches and referees from across Northern Ireland but bringing young people together to learn team building and the additional skills that team sports bring.

“The Primary Schools Festival is a great opportunity for aspiring young rugby players to learn those skills, meet new people and, of course, to play at Kingspan Stadium and our sponsorship of this event allows us to interact with more families from local communities and beyond.”

Hugh McCaughey, Interim CEO at Ulster Rugby, commented: “We want to thank Spar NI for their sponsorship of our mini rugby events for another season. Activities such as the Primary School Festival have many health and well-being benefits for the young people taking part, and Spar NI’s sponsorship enables us to continue holding events like this across the Province.

“Spar NI work to support their community in the same way we do here at Ulster Rugby, and our ongoing partnership allows us to come together to support more families, create more participation opportunities and have a bigger impact on our local community.”

Spar NI’s sponsorship of Ulster Rugby will continue for the remainder of the 2024/25 season, expanding the club’s grassroots community outreach programme.