Royals Sports Group-owned franchise Paarl Royals on Tuesday announced that its Principal Sponsor, South Africa’s leading broadband and internet solutions provider, Afrihost, will continue with the franchise in a multi-year extension to the current deal.
Afrihost will continue to have a presence at the upper right side of the Paarl Royals’ official matchday and training jerseys.
Having initially signed as the Principal Sponsor of the franchise for the inaugural season, it was Afrihost’s first venture into sports sponsorship, and with various digital and on-ground activations, proved to be a game changer for the brand given the Royals’ global reach and strong digital engagement.
Apart from collaboration on social media, the two organisations also worked together on several offline activations including surprising young fans around the town of Paarl. The aim was to connect the community to the franchise through innovation, a value on which Afrihost has been built since its inception in 2000.
With star South African players set to represent the Royals including David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Bjorn Fortuin, etc., the extension of the association, will help bring the brand closer to the Royals’ fans in South Africa and other parts of the world. World Cup winning captain Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, West Indian duo of Obed McCoy and Fabian Allen are also set to feature for the Royals.
Commenting on it, Alok Chitre, Chief Business Officer, Paarl Royals, expressed his delight at the extension: “We are extremely pleased to announce that one of South Africa’s leading brands Afrihost has decided to continue its association with us in a multi-year deal. The inaugural season of SA20 proved to be a huge success for us when it came to driving value for our partners, and this renewal is a testament to that, and we look forward to creating more impact within South Africa and the rest of the world again going forward.”
Meanwhile, Gian Visser, Chief Executive Officer, Afrihost, said: “We are excited to extend our partnership with the Paarl Royals. The inaugural season of the SA20 was phenomenal which saw our consumers and the Royals’ fans enjoy the exciting activities we were able to carry out through the association, and we look forward to sharing the joy of cricket once again with fans across South Africa.”
The second season of SA20 will be played from 10th January to 10th February 2024, with the Paarl Royals starting their campaign against Pretoria Capitals at Boland Park on 12th January 2024.