Personal Sponsorship?

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John Upham
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Personal Sponsorship?

Post by John Upham » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:53 pm

Are there any UK players who have currently have or historically have had personal sponsorship?

This could be anything from a Blue Chip corporation to the local fish and chip shop.

I get the impression that Eastern European professionals are more adept (or luckier) at obtaining such sponsorship.

Is there an equivalent of a Frank Warren or snooker manager type person for chess?

I wonder if the ECF Director of Marketing has this information to hand? Maybe I should make contact?
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Justin Hadi

Re: Personal Sponsorship?

Post by Justin Hadi » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:18 pm

Luke McShane was sponsored by PSION for a while - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_McShane.

I don't think there is a Frank Warren type person in the UK, but I could be wrong.

Phil Neatherway
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Re: Personal Sponsorship?

Post by Phil Neatherway » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:04 pm

Nigel Short had some sort of arrangement with Eagle Star a good few years ago.

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Charles W. Wood
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Re: Personal Sponsorship?

Post by Charles W. Wood » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:01 pm

I can't see what advantage there would be to personal sponsorship, I would want greater coverage in my market place if it was my company. As my company is chess based then it could be an idea, but the profile of "Master" level chess players outside of the chess world is very low, unless they are the current world champion or in the running for it. So what benefit is there to sponsor an individual from a companies point of view?
Charles W. Wood
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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: Personal Sponsorship?

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:49 pm

If a chess player has sufficient local reputation, there could be an advantage to a local company in sponsoring him or her.

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Charles W. Wood
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Re: Personal Sponsorship?

Post by Charles W. Wood » Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:14 pm

FM Jack Rudd wrote:If a chess player has sufficient local reputation, there could be an advantage to a local company in sponsoring him or her.
You could well be right. I just think that the appetite from companies to spend marketing budget is so they can get say.... a League 1 or 2 footballer/rugby player for £500 to £1000 and they are expected to go to the Companies dos, supplied signed shirts, and get a signed match ball etc. We don't really offer that much in the way of trimmings and support. I do however think that a built fund to support up and coming players would be a good idea, but one held by the ECF would need to be huge, one held by the Unions would also be sizeable, Counties may be an option but then we end up with a postcode lottery.

I would love to know where Individual Sponsorship has occurred and what the sponsor got out of the deal, as I just don't understand what the pitch would need to be. If I did know this I would put my little but quite good at this stuff brain in action to see if I could make a pitch/sales speel that could be used by top end/developing superstars and Masters.

Don't get me wrong I'm not against it or poring cold water on the idea. Quite the opposite, I would love to help master (pardon the pun) the way its done, if only to benefit the junior superstars coming through my own academy.
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