Salford Red Devils and Salford University have teamed up in a brand-new partnership which will give students the opportunity for both parties to share expertise and give students unique and beneficial experiences.
As a key component of the partnership, Salford University will stage a ‘Takeover Day’ at the St Helens fixture on Thursday 28th February. Students and staff from the University have been given discounted tickets as part of the event.
Prior to the game, students from Salford University’s Shock Radio will build the atmosphere at the The Salford Stadium, they will also provide live commentary and post-match player interviews. There will also be a reaction challenge game co-ordinated by the staff from the sports exercise team at the University.
Salford University Journalism students will be assisting with official matchday communications and operations. The University’s band will entertain fans pre-game in the marquee and there will be a crossbar challenge at half-time between Salford Red Devils supporters and the University’s Rugby League team.
As part of the longer-term partnership, Salford University have taken pride of place across the back of the 2019 shorts as an official kit sponsor while a member of the Salford Business School will sit on the Club’s Board of Directors.
Salford University and the Red Devils have already worked together on a number of projects including the ‘Fan Fit’ app which tracks the number of steps and activity Salford fans do over each month as well as taking feed directly from the Club’s official website, social media and Youtube channels. Salford Red Devils also held their annual media day at the University’s MediaCity UK Journalism campus in January.
Jennifer Hinsley, Operations Manager at the University of Salford Business School, said: “This is a very exciting partnership for the University, which will give a huge range of our students the chance to experience Rugby League, whether that is just as a fan or actually getting involved in helping to run a matchday. It is a big part of our strategy to give our students real world experience in this partnership is a key part of that.”
Salford Red Devils Director, Paul King, said: “To have a strong working relationship with Salford University is fantastic and this ‘Takeover Day’ is the perfect opportunity for us to display this wonderful partnership. This day will allow a number of the Universities students get involved with a gameday whether that be offering assistance to the operations, entertainment or just coming and experiencing their first-ever Rugby League game.
“We’ve been working really hard on improving the matchday experience at the The Salford Stadium and offering a partner such as Salford University a ‘Takeover Day’ will only help us with this and I’m hoping all the students and staff of Salford University as well as the Salford Red Devils fans support the occasion.”
For students looking to purchase tickets for the upcoming game against St Helens, please contact M.Ahmed42@salford.ac.uk.
