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#Post#: 153705--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: KiltedQuin
Date: May 1, 2026, 9:48 am
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--- Quote from: RodneyRegis link ---
>
> Is there a suggestion here that Maher is a household name? I'd
certainly never heard of her before this thread.
>
--- End Quote ---
I suspect it’s a generational thing. My son who was in his late
20s at the time knew all about her due to her social media
presence. So among younger people she is really well known.
Perhaps less amongst us more mature people.
#Post#: 153709--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: Yareet
Date: May 1, 2026, 10:32 am
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Not just younger people. Mrs Yareet wouldn’t mind me saying
she’s not in her 20s. Despite 20 years of life with me (and
going to a rugby-first school) she’s never really engaged. Until
Ilona came along. And then Ellie. And now she’s at Red Roses
games without me
#Post#: 153711--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 1, 2026, 11:39 am
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--- Quote from: Yareet link ---
>
> Not just younger people. Mrs Yareet wouldn’t mind me saying
she’s not in her 20s. Despite 20 years of life with me (and
going to a rugby-first school) she’s never really engaged. Until
Ilona came along. And then Ellie. And now she’s at Red Roses
games without me
>
--- End Quote ---
I agree, she increased the profile of womens rugby by a huge
amount, and got people into rugby, which can only be good for
both mens and womens rugby, and Ellie is following the same path
but with a lot more talent.
I have an 18 year old daugther who plays Bucs and is in a PWR
academy and a 16 year old son who also plays, so Ilona was
unavoidable for me.
#Post#: 153713--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: Rugbycat
Date: May 1, 2026, 11:49 am
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--- Quote from: elbombero link ---
>
> Maher is a household name, and regardless of how she fared on
a rugby field (which isn't really the argument I don't think),
her mere presence was bums on seats - anyone who was at the
Valentine's Day game last year will know how different the vibe
was there. People were there to see her v Ellie (arguably just
her tbf, but the club marketed it very well).
>
> And I get that women's rugby IS different in how players
engage, but wasn't it something wild like 60% of people at the
game had never been to a rugby match before (forgive me, I
cannot remember the number off the top of my head). Three stands
were open for the game, and the players went round the ground
after to sign shirts, pose for photos etc. She got eyes on
women's sport/women's rugby. Whilst she might not be a name to
people, in the same way that some celebrity names mean nothing
to me, her appearances on a rugby field brought people into
rugby that would never have contemplated it before.
>
> Agree with the point above that it's a matter of getting those
fans who turn up to watch Ellie K play for us to become Quins
fans - I would extend that, and get those fans who turn up to
watch Ellie K play and encourage them to get down to their local
rugby club, and give it a go.
>
--- End Quote ---
My argument was not around her talent, which i only mentioned
as she has moved away from rugby, and i am just Paraphrasing
what she has said herself on social media about why.
But it does show the value of social media, and the power that a
good but not great player can achieve with it, and the impact it
can have on revenue for a club ,the mens game can learn a few
things from the womens.
#Post#: 153730--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: Camquin
Date: May 2, 2026, 2:10 pm
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Rugby seems to forget it is a minority sport.
Even in Wales.
#Post#: 153812--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol Bears chief explains novel approach to player
recruitment
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: May 6, 2026, 3:15 am
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Brian Moore
Bristol calling themselves a ‘marketing agency that plays rugby’
is foolish
Rival players and fans are unlikely to hold back in terms of
reminding Bears of chief executive’s comments
Published 04 May 2026 7:00am BST
65
Bristol Bears’ chief executive suggested that marketing was a
significant factor in the signing of America’s Ilona MaherMullan
At a sports business conference, held by SportsPro last week,
the chief executive of Bristol Bears, Tom Tainton, is widely
reported to have said a number of things, including the
following:
“We are a marketing agency that plays rugby.”
“There is no point going to market and spending marquee money on
a player and just expect them to do something between the white
lines on a Saturday.”
“It is very easy for us to sit here and use a lot of corporate
buzzwords that don’t really mean anything. You want someone to
see a sport that is cool, inclusive, engaging, and high-octane.”
“We have to take some bold risks to get out of our comfort zone
and do things that the sport hasn’t previously done.”
This has attracted a range of responses from rugby fans and
commentors that range between rabid and extra rabid. Leaving
aside the point that the third comment is an example of what he
complains about, we need to dig deeper into this.
First, the context. Bristol have released clarification of
Tainton’s remarks that, rightly, points out that they came
during a wide-ranging discussion of sports business factors
amongst sports business professionals. They were made
specifically in regard to the Bears’ approach to marquee player
recruitment and he mentioned stars like Louis Rees-Zammit and
Ilona Maher.
If you isolate context and take into account that a chief
executive’s principal key performance indicator is commercial,
you can understand what Tainton was getting at. From that
standpoint he is not, as many have claimed, “forgetting his
roots”, nor is he “downright wrong”, nor was the interview a
“car crash”.
To this you can add the fact that sports marketing has moved on
because of necessity, Tainton is reflecting the current
personality-based approach to marketing and trying to engage a
new audience that is attracted to individual players rather than
via traditional, team-based allegiance. Some people have
supported his comments, and they are correct, on that narrow
construction.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of this story. There are
other relevant points that make Tainton’s comments, at best,
unwise and you must ponder why they were made in this form or
made at all, irrespective of circumstance. When it comes to the
question of marketing, for this is claimed to be the extra
factor when it comes to marquee players, there are several
conflicting issues that need to be understood. Some relate to
rugby union as a unique sport and others have wider
applicability.
Prominent Yale professor Carl Hovland theorised that there are
four factors to persuasion, that can be summed up as: “What is
said, by who, to whom, and how.” These four factors are all
inter-related and you need to get all four correct to persuade
most efficaciously. What was Tainton’s message? It could not
have been that Bristol was a marketing agency first and foremost
and it was dull to have volunteered that as a very quotable
quote. Tainton did not need to say any part of that sentence
when discussing signing marquee players; it adds nothing to his
point that they look for something on top of their rugby
performances.
Tom Tainton, CEO of Bristol Bears
Bristol have been forced to put out a statement following
comments made by chief executive Tom Tainton last week
Unwittingly, Tainton is also undone by an underappreciation of
how this was transmitted. An interview is an open and recorded
forum, it is not the same as an organised media release and you
cannot rely on accurate transmission of your message, nor can
you limit its range, which is now global and instant because of
the internet and digital media. How did Tainton think his words
would be received? If he thought they would be accepted as
meant, he was naive. A modern message must not alienate rugby’s
core, and traditional audience.
In the end, these small errors have a compounding effect because
the jibe that Bristol are just “a marketing agency that plays
rugby” will, if anything, gather momentum when used by opponents
and critics, even when in jest. I predict some choice words next
time the Bears visit Kingsholm, the Rec or Sandy Park for a West
Country derby. If I was a playing opponent, I might be tempted
to slip the odd comment to this effect to a Bristol player.
Finally, Tainton’s comments are inaccurate when they relate to
the rugby side of marquee players. What they do on the park must
come first and nothing off the field, no matter how elevated,
will make up for not doing the primary job. I argue that an
ultra-reliable goal-kicker and a dominant tighthead prop are
about as marquee as you can get because of their direct
influences on a game of rugby.
The more perceptive of long-time Harlequins’ fans will tell you
that the player they miss most presently is the Springbok No 3,
Wilco Louw. Who? Well, if you know, you know – and you certainly
don’t need any marketing.
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