1. Can you tell us more about Eskimo Ice and the range of products and services you offer? How do these offerings connect with your sponsorship of Crawley Rugby Football Club?

Eskimo Ice is a Crawley-based manufacturer of packaged ice products that are marketed under the Ice Club brand. We sell millions of bags every year of our Classic Cubes, Crushed Ice and Supersize products through supermarkets, cash and carries, foodservice companies and convenience stores. Those bags of ice are used for many different purposes – chilling and serving drinks, in cocktails and smoothies, in special drinks and for the brave or crazy…in ice baths! Every week, we happily donate ice for use in your ice baths and for any other events where your machines can’t keep up. With everyone facing ever-rising costs, we hope our support helps to keep the club in a sound financial position. We recognise that grassroots sports and community-based clubs play an important role in keeping people fit, offering social interaction and tackling mental health issues. As your latest sponsor, we are keen to reinforce those positive messages and will take great pride in donating ice and providing funds for the club and your Ladies Team match shirts knowing that it’s gone to a worthy cause.

2. What motivated Eskimo Ice to become sponsors for the ladies' match shirts at Crawley RFC? Are there any specific values or goals that align between your company and the rugby club?

We have been looking to invest in the local community for a while. When one of our colleagues who plays for your Ladies Team, asked if we could help the rugby club, we were excited by the opportunity. After meeting Dee and Dan, DOR and Chairman of the club, we knew we had found the right home for our support. The passion and drive that was evident is something that we see day in and day out from our employees.
Like your club members and associates, we are a hard-working team, diverse in culture and nationality and we value the importance of respect and doing things the right way. As an employer, we strive to bring people together in an environment where they feel valued and can be successful. That was something we felt was in abundance at the rugby club and fully deserving of our support.

3. Sponsorships often bring about exciting opportunities. How do you envision this partnership benefiting both Eskimo Ice and the rugby team, both on and off the field?

Our products play an important role in the hospitality industry but not everyone knows they can buy ice or where from. So, connecting with potential and existing customers on a personal level and increasing our brand awareness excites us. If we create a better relationship with the community and support a local cause at the same time, that is something we will take great pride in. Alongside the support we have already discussed, we can offer employment opportunities too. As we move towards summer, we will have part-time and full-time seasonal work that might interest your members and community contacts. Most of our staff live in the Crawley area and a significant number of them came to us through word of mouth. Like rugby, it’s a tough but rewarding industry and like the club, we fully appreciate the importance of being given an opportunity. If we can give someone a start and the chance to fulfil their potential, that would be hugely rewarding and really giving something back to the community.

Visit their website https://ice-club.co.uk/