OPTUS has boosted its support for the WA Football League, adding league naming rights, volunteers and the new WAFL Women’s competition for 2019. It follows the departure of broadcast sponsor McDonald’s as revealed by Community News last month.
WA Football Commission chief executive thanked Optus for its continued commitment to WA football after it came on board last season.
“We are thrilled to have such a high-quality partner extending their support of the WAFL competition to naming rights, WAFL Women, and one of the game’s most valuable assets – our volunteers,” he said in a statement released Sunday.
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READ NOW“We saw the benefits the Optus partnership delivered in 2018 with The Reubens performing live at the WAFL grand final at Optus Stadium and look forward to working together on more great initiatives in 2019 such as the Optus Club Hero program to recognise our volunteers.”
The new partnership will see this year’s men’s and women’s State League competitions referred to as the 2019 Optus WAFL Premiership Season and 2019 Optus WAFLW Premiership Season.
Optus head of marketing Melissa Hopkins said Optus was looking forward to broadening its partnership with the WAFL in 2019 after seeing the competition go from strength to strength with the addition of the West Coast Eagles WAFL team and a Women’s competition.
“We are ecstatic our partnership is extending to include the new WAFL Women’s competition, which is an exciting step for WA Football and Optus,” Ms Hopkins said.
“Footy is an important part of WA communities and we see our partnership as a great way to connect with West Australians through a sport we all love.”
As part of the Optus partnership, a WAFL Women’s game of the round will be live-streamed each week on the WAFL website and the 2019 WAFL Women’s grand final will be broadcast live on the Seven Network.
The WAFC will also continue hosting the WAFL grand final and Sandover Medal count at Optus Stadium.
Mr Taylor also thanked and acknowledged outgoing WAFL naming rights partner McDonald’s for its four-year commitment to the competition.
“The support from McDonald’s has been integral to having the competition televised on the Seven Network and allowed us to continue driving the growth and success of the WAFL,” Mr Taylor said.