Newport Town AFC wins Today FM Team Kit Sponsorship

Today FM’s ‘Club Champions’ Community initiative presents January’s winning title to Newport Town AFC

In November 2020, Today FM launched a nationwide campaign giving sports clubs the chance to win a brand-new sponsored team kit. ‘Club Champions’ is a yearlong community initiative which will see one club awarded a Today FM branded jersey kit each month.

Every month, Today FM shortlists two clubs to go head-to-head to win the monthly title of ‘Club Champion’. The winning team will receive team-kit sponsorship and are automatically added to a leaderboard so that they can be in with the chance of being crowned All Ireland Club Champions by a judging panel at the end of 2021.

Last week, it was Tipperary v Cork as Newport Town Football club and the Cork Wanderers Hockey club joined presenter Mairead Ronan on Today FM to compete for January’s ‘Club Champions’ title.

Newport Town AFC’s Public Relations Officer, David Noble came on to represent his club by going head-to-head in an on-air quiz against Catriona Keohane, a hockey player for the Cork Wanderers.

In the quiz, each participant was given 60 seconds to answer questions on topics such as Sports, Music, Movies, TV, and all things Irish. The club member with the most correct answers at the end of their 60 second clock would be named a January’s ‘Club Champion’.

Taking home the win with a landslide victory in the topic of Sports was Newport’s Dave Noble, who managed to rack up a chart-topping score of 8 correct answers which allowed him to take a 6-point lead on his Cork competitor, Catriona Keohane who scored 2 points within the Movies and TV topic.

Speaking about his win for Newport Town AFC, Dave Noble said: "I was genuinely surprised to get the call to ask Newport Town AFC to participate in the Today FM Club Champions initiative and absolutely thrilled to then go on to win and scoop up the brilliant prize of a new set of sponsored playing gear for our club.

“The last few months have been incredibly tough for our club and all sports club throughout the country. Our 500 players, on 30 teams, ranging in age from 5 to 50, really miss training, playing games and just hanging out with their friends on our pitches and in the clubhouse in Derryleigh Park, Newport. Unfortunately, our fundraising efforts have been drastically affected due to Covid 19, while the bills still have to be paid. Our 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2020 also had to be put on hold due to Covid. Hopefully this win will give our club, community and players a big lift and it will be onwards & upwards for the remainder of 2021. A massive thanks to Today FM for this initiative and for their support of community clubs throughout the country."

Speaking on-air about Club Champions on Today FM, Mairead Ronan said; “We all know that local sports clubs are the backbone of every community, and while club sports may be on hold at the moment, it won’t be forever...These clubs are so important to our communities and we need to do everything we can to keep them there.”

Speaking about the campaign, Head of Marketing at Today FM, Róisín Reilly said; “Today FM has always been about community and this year, supporting local communities is more important than ever. Your local sports club is often the beating heart of a community, many clubs and teams usually rely on fundraising or the support of a local business to fund team kits but COVID has had a major impact on this. That’s why Today FM has launched our ‘Club Champions’ initiative, to kit out as many local teams and clubs as we can over the next year. The campaign is open to anyone and everyone who is part of a team, no matter what sport”.

To listen back to the full interview and quiz simply go HERE

To enter your club to win a brand-new team kit sponsored by Today FM, simply go to TodayFM.com/Clubs and tell us your story.