Edinburgh Chief Executive
Nic Cartwright is celebrating the team’s growth off the pitch and today revealed plans are in place to move their development on apace through attracting corporate investment.
During the home matches against Leinster, Ulster and Munster, Edinburgh have generated crowds of over 5,000 – a club record for the team in the professional era.
After the opening three games during his first season – the 2007/2008 campaign – in charge, Cartwright saw Edinburgh only attract an average crowd of 1,375, thus underlining the noticeable growth of the team’s fanbase.
Nevertheless, Cartwright now wants Edinburgh to rise up towards the next level in their development; by becoming a major force in European rugby and attracting corporate investment.
Cartwright said: “The ongoing development of Edinburgh Rugby Club is still a work in progress, but we are proud of the progress that has been made over the past two years.
“On the pitch, we have achieved back-to-back record finishes in the Magners League with a young and predominantly Scottish squad.
“The foundations are now firmly in place for Edinburgh to move forward and we are really excited about the next phase in our development.
“There is a real ambition within our club and a determination to keep improving and to keep growing.
“In order to make this happen we need to deliver on team performance, crowd growth and income generation.
“The team has been producing outstanding performances for some time now and the games against Bath in the Heineken Cup in December will be another chance to show we have moved on and the crowd results have been very promising.
“Where we need to show a further step forward is the generation of high level corporate support. We have a good range of current sponsors, but many of our competitors are funded by a far greater range of income streams and we now need to start identifying these streams.
“We plan to pro-actively interact more with Edinburgh’s substantial corporate market place with a view to both aid and speed up the club’s development.”
Meanwhile, for the team’s next home fixture – against Bath in the Heineken Cup on Saturday, 19 December – Cartwright revealed that Murrayfield’s East Stand would be open to cope with expected demand for tickets.
He added: “Last year we had close to 8,000 for the home game against Wasps and the atmosphere was great. I firmly believe we will have a larger crowd this season and, as a result, we will need two stands opened to cope with the likely demand.
“By letting people know early on, I am sure there will be supporters who choose to come along and experience life in the East Stand, often cited as the best place to watch live rugby.
“Edinburgh are well placed to end December with a chance to progress in the Heineken Cup. I urge supporters to get behind their team and purchase tickets as soon a possible.”
Chairman Gavin Hastings echoed Cartwright’s vision of where Edinburgh is heading towards and believes stronger business links will be forged in the near future.
Hastings said: “We are proud of what we have achieved over the past two seasons and we view Edinburgh as being the standard bearers of civic pride here in the city.
“We pride ourselves as being an inclusive club and we would welcome the interest of all rugby enthusiasts in and around the Capital.
“Edinburgh is an affluent city and we are aiming to align ourselves closer with the city’s business community.
“From what I can already gauge, Edinburgh’s businesspeople are keen to engage with the team and we are looking forward to initiating mutually beneficial partnerships.”
