SPAR recently teamed up with two-time Olympic Gold Medallist and Irish boxing legend Kellie Harrington to announce the winners of SPAR’s Stay in the Game competition. The competition, a key initiative of the SPAR Community Fund 2024, launched in May and aimed at empowering teenage girls in sports and addressing the challenges they face in sustaining their participation.
Led by Harrington, the competition invited the public to nominate a local club or school making a difference in the participation and empowerment of young girls in sport for the chance to win one of five €2,000 prizes and a unique opportunity to meet and engage with Kellie Harrington in an interactive SPAR Stay in the Game workshop. A total of 279 clubs entered the competition from all over Ireland and from a diverse array of sports. The five clubs that have won the SPAR Stay in the Game competition are Aglish Boxing Club, Co. Mayo, Flesk Valley Rowing Club, Co. Kerry, Kildallan LGFA, Co. Cavan, Kevins Hurling and Camogie Club, Dublin and Rathdrum Girls Rugby Club, Co. Wicklow. Each club will receive the prize fund and two members of each club also took part in the interactive workshop with Kellie.
Harrington has served as a SPAR brand ambassador since 2021 and this marks the fourth collaboration between Harrington and SPAR as part of the SPAR Community Fund Programme. With more than 400 SPAR stores rooted in communities all around Ireland, SPAR and its nationwide network of local community retailers have always been a major supporter of sport at national and local level. This campaign is an extension of the ongoing commitment that SPAR has to the communities in which it operates. Established in 2021, the SPAR Community Fund Programme has distributed nearly €100,000 to local clubs, groups, and associations across the country over the past three years.
SPAR Sales Director, Colin Donnelly said: “It has been fantastic to see the engagement from schools and clubs in the SPAR Stay in the Game competition and to hear about and see the work being done around local communities. The deserved winners are creating real change for teenage girls in sport in their local areas. This is the aim of our campaign here at SPAR, and to see such positive impacts on lives across Ireland from sport this summer has being special. We are so proud to have Kellie Harrington as our ambassador, she is a real role model for teenage girls across Ireland. To be able to give young girls across the country an opportunity to meet her and interact with her will inspire them and show the possibilities of sport if you stick with it and work hard.”
SPAR Brand Ambassador Kellie Harrington added: “I am incredibly proud to work with SPAR as a brand ambassador and to support the Stay in the Game competition. The work that is being done in local communities is remarkable to see and to be able to play even a small part in that is a privilege. Investment and support given to community funded sports clubs is something that is very important to me and it is a huge part of why I am where I am today and why I get to represent Ireland on the world stage.”
For more information on the SPAR Community Fund, please visit www.spar.ie/communityfund.
