Ladies Gaelic Football Association bags lucrative Lidl backing

Supermarket chain Lidl has entered into a three-year partnership with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.

The company has been named the official retail partner of the body and will also take on title sponsorship of the Ladies National Football Leagues. Lidl will invest over €1.5m ($1.6m) in the sport during the first year of the deal. The partnership will expire at the end of the 2018 season.

Under the agreement, Lidl has developed an advertising campaign to promote women’s Gaelic football. A social media campaign with the ‘SeriousSupport’ hashtag will also accompany all Lidl-related activities.

In addition, the supermarket has been named the title sponsor of the Post Primary Schools Competition and the ‘Gaelic4Mothers & Others’ initiative, which aims to increase levels of female participation in the sport. Further promotional campaigns will be organised over the course of the deal.

Marie Hickey, president of the LGFA, said: “They (Lidl) have immediately shown their commitment to our sport through their impressive and eye-catching advertising campaign and their financial investment in the sport will have a huge effect on the game throughout the country.”

The 2016 Lidl National Football League season gets underway on January 31.