How to get sponsors for a rugby club

Most small rugby clubs run on subs, the bar, a raffle and the same few local businesses who help every year. Sponsorship can do more than that, but only when the club treats it as something it sells, not a favour it asks for. This guide walks through it in five steps. It is written for rugby, and the same steps work for league, netball and football clubs.

Step 1: Work out what you can sell

A sponsor is paying to be seen by your people: players, whānau, supporters, visiting teams and everyone who follows your page. So start with a list of every place a name or logo can go. For a rugby club that usually means:

• Playing kit: jersey front, back, sleeves and shorts
• Training tops, hoodies and bags
• Ground signage: fence banners, the scoreboard and goal post pads
• Naming rights on the clubrooms, a grade or a team
• Your social pages, team sheets and results graphics
• Prizegiving and club day
• A live stream, if you run one

Next to each one, write who sees it and how often. Use your own numbers, like your player count or your page followers, and do not guess big. Our guide on what a club can sell to sponsors has a simple layout for this list.

Step 2: Decide who to ask

Start inside the club. Your players, parents and volunteers own businesses, work at them or know who does. Ask the committee three questions:

1. Who owns a business or makes decisions at one?
2. Who do we already buy from?
3. Who has helped us before, even in a small way?

Then think about the businesses your members use every week: the builder, the mechanic, the takeaway, the physio, the real estate agent down the road. A short list of good fits will do better than a long list of strangers. Put it in a shared spreadsheet so two people do not ask the same business.

Step 3: Put a price on it

If you do not set a price, the sponsor will, and it will be low. Group your spots into a few packages so a business can pick one without a long chat. A simple ladder looks like this:

1. In-kind supporter. Goods or services instead of cash: food after games, printing, transport or physio time. Agree a value together and treat them like any other sponsor.
2. Local supporter. A low entry package. Logo on your sponsor page, a thank you post and a certificate for their shop or office.
3. Team partner. Their logo on a team's training kit and two social posts a season.
4. Major partner. Playing kit, naming rights and a mention at prizegiving.

As an example only, our club page builder starts a small rugby club (under 150 members) at $150, $600 and $1,500 a season for those three cash packages. Your prices should match what you can actually deliver and what local businesses can afford. If a business says it is too much, offer a smaller package rather than the same one for less. Our guide to sponsorship packages goes into more detail.

Step 4: Make the ask

The warmest ask comes from someone the owner already knows. If a parent works there, ask them to make the introduction. Then send a short email or letter, or drop it in by hand. Cover four things:

• Who you are, in one line
• The package you think suits them, and the price
• What they get, in plain words
• One next step, like a quick call or a coffee at the clubrooms

Keep it short. If you hear nothing, follow up once a few days later, then leave it until next season. Our sponsor letter guide has a template you can copy.

Timing matters too. Some businesses set their local spending well ahead, so start in the off season, not the week before round one.

Step 5: Keep them

Getting a sponsor the first time is the hard part. Keeping one is far easier than finding a new one. Three habits do most of the work:

1. Deliver what you promised. If the package says two posts, do two posts. Keep a note of what went out and when.
2. Show them it happened. At the end of the season, send a short report with photos of their logo on kit and signage, and links to the posts.
3. Ask about next season before this one ends. Thank them at prizegiving, then ask while the season is still fresh.

There is more on this in our guide to keeping sponsors coming back.

Junior and youth teams

If a sponsor's name will be on junior kit or a junior page, check your union's and your school's rules first. Do not take alcohol, vape or gambling sponsors for junior teams. If you build a club page with us and tick the junior or youth option, the page blocks those categories for you.

League, netball and football

The steps are the same. The spots change a little. Netball has bibs and court signage instead of goal post pads. Football has the back of the shirt, the dugouts and the corner flags. The example prices in our builder differ a little by code, so pick your own code when you set up.

Put it all in one place

Once you have packages, give sponsors one place to see them. A free club page lists your packages, takes enquiries and gives you a QR code for the clubrooms wall. Not sure where your club stands yet? The free Sponsor Ready Check takes about three minutes and tells you what to fix first.