Breakfast club continues to thrive

Connacht Rugby recently hosted a breakfast meeting in the Connacht Hotel for their business club members.

The event, attended by more than 70 business people, was a chance for businesses to network in an informal environment and discuss the common challenges they face.

The club offers members the opportunity to network at hospitality events around match day and away from the Sportsground.

At this event club members received an end-of-year update from Connacht Rugby CEO Willie Ruane and a briefing from head of athletic performance Dave Howarth.

The briefing provided by the CEO outlined the changes that have taken place in Connacht Rugby recently as it has changed its governance structures and commercial and marketing department, creating a number of new positions in the process.

“As part of our recent expansion we have been focusing on investing in people and investing in facilities,” explained Ruane.

The crowd in attendance were hugely engaged in the presentation delivered by Dave Howarth entitled ‘Creating a High Performance Environment’. Howarth, who is on his first season with Connacht Rugby previously worked with basketball team Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA.

Afterwards, partnerships manager at Connacht Rugby Gavin Duffy outlined the benefits that companies enjoy as part of the club.

“We now have over 40 companies signed up to our business club. The feedback we have been getting is extremely positive. For some companies they use our hospitality packages on match day to host prospective or current clients. Away from the match day then they get great benefit from coming to events like this morning and listening to how professional sport works,” explained Duffy.