Med. Bank boost for local game

The Malta Rugby Football Union (MRFU) have received a significant boost after they signed an attractive sponsorship deal with Mediterranean Bank.

A delighted Martin Galea, president of the MRFU, told a news conference that the agreement will go a long way towards bolstering the local governing body of rugby’s efforts to improve the level of the domestic game.

“We are delighted that Mediterranean Bank has decided to team up with the Malta Rugby Football Union,” Galea said.

“Sponsorship agreements are vital to continue our work towards the development of the game of rugby in Malta. It’s no secret that these injections of funds enable us to invest money and resources in various areas of the game.”

Thanks to the agreement signed yesterday, the MRFU will receive €25,000 from the Mediterranean Bank for a two-year period.

As part of the sponsorship deal, the MRFU’s knock-out will be renamed the Mediterranean Bank Cup. This competition will get underway in February 2011.

“Besides, there are other areas that will benefit from this sponsorship,” Galea added.

“Part of the sum will go towards youth rugby. There will also be substantial investment in the men’s 7s national team. Last season, due to lack of funds, the sevens team could not participate in the European Championships which were held in Ukraine.

“Next year, we are planning to compete in the two FIRA tournaments for sevens. The team, which comprises players from the MRFU league, needs international exposure to progress and this sponsorship guarantees our participation in future tournaments.”

For his part, Charles Cini, head of corporate banking at Mediterranean Bank, explained why the bank had decided to award its first sports-related sponsorship to the MRFU.

“After establishing ourselves in the Maltese banking market, we felt the time was right to enter into sponsorship agreements in various fields,” Cini said.

“We started off by supporting Heritage Malta and the Manoel Theatre and we later felt that we should also contribute to sport. The choice of the MRFU was natural as no other Maltese bank had been present in this sport.

“We hope this agreement will help the MRFU maintain the success achieved in the last few years.”

Meanwhile, the MRFU season kicks off this weekend with the Ray Elliott Cup but president Galea revealed that the union is facing logistical problems as one of the two pitches at Marsa is not ready to host rugby matches.

“Unfortunately, one of the pitches at Marsa has not been reseeded,” Galea said.

“This has created a huge problem for us as it’s impossible to hold our programme of matches on just one pitch. We are hopeful that the authorities help us to solve this problem.”

Galea revealed that the MRFU have opened talks with the Malta Football Association to use some of the local football pitches for rugby matches.

“Today (yesterday) I had a meeting with MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo and chief executive officer Bjorn Vassallo over the possibility of having rugby matches played on football pitches,” Galea said.

“Talks are still at a very preliminary stage but I’m hopeful that an agreement can be reached in the next few months.”