23 May 2005
Leopardstown Racecourse, Ireland: Irish International and Premiership star, Matt Holland has been made an Ambassador to MasterCard Football Furlong, the new football-themed raceday being held for the first time in Ireland at Leopardstown Racecourse on Saturday 2 July 2005.
As well as presenting the MasterCard trophy to the winning team at the end of the six races, Matt will be meeting fans and signing autographs. He will also be judging the ‘Best Dressed Fans’ competition and taking part in a celebrity penalty shoot-out.
Football Furlong is the new raceday format where all the jockeys race in the representative shirt colours of the 20 English Premiership Football Clubs in the 2005/2006 season. The results of each race will be compiled into a premier league-style points system culminating over the six races with the winning club receiving the perpetual trophy.
Holland, a regular race goer, commented: “This is a dream role for me as I love racing and follow the horses. Football has such close links with racing, with more players and managers than ever getting involved with the sport. MasterCard Football Furlong is a fantastic new event for Ireland and Leopardstown – if you follow football and fancy a night at the races you’ll love Football Furlong.”
Matt O’Dwyer, Chief Executive of Leopardstown, said: “It is great news that Matt Holland is coming to Leopardstown for football’s big day at the races. Matt is especially popular in Ireland and fits extremely well with the event given the strong proliferation of Irish players in English football and the huge Irish football supporter fan base over here”.
As well as a great evening’s racing, MasterCard Football Furlong will also feature recent Meteor Ireland Music Awards winner – Juliet Turner – performing live in concert at the racecourse after racing.
Matt Holland was snapped-up by Charlton at the end of the 2002/03 season and was quickly installed as captain. He is extremely popular with the fans wherever he has played, especially when getting forward to grab vital goals. Holland, who has over 30 international caps for Ireland and played a vital part in their 2002 World Cup, continues as a major driving force in the midfield and is looking to help his national side make the 2006 World Cup.
For further information, please contact:
Ruth Chamberlain, Leopardstown
Tel: 01 289 0500
E-Mail: rchamberlain@leopardstown.com
Rod Kohler, Revolution
M: + 00 44 (0)7770 647662
8 May 2005
Leopardstown Racecourse, Ireland: Irish International and Liverpool football legend Jason McAteer and top Irish model Claudine Palmer, today launched the new football-themed raceday – Football Furlong™ sponsored by MasterCard – to be held for the first time in Ireland at Leopardstown Racecourse on Saturday 2 July 2005.
Football Furlong™ is the new football-themed raceday consisting of six races with each jockey racing in the representative shirt colours of the top English Premiership football clubs in the 2005/2006 season. The results of each race will be compiled into a league points system culminating over the six races with the winning club receiving the perpetual MasterCard Football Furlong Trophy.
At the launch it was announced that leading global payments company, MasterCard, will be the overall event title sponsor.
The inaugural Football Furlong™ event was held at Haydock Park Racecourse in 2004 to huge acclaim. The concept is based on the long established and strong relationship between racing and football with past and present players including Niall Quinn, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Sir Alex Ferguson, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Kevin Keegan all owning racehorses.
Merrick Haydon, Managing Director of Revolution Sports Marketing Group, which owns the rights to the event, said: “Football Furlong is an event that taps into the huge dual interest that exists between horseracing and football. It’s a terrific opportunity for us to bring the event to Ireland as there is such a strong proliferation of Irish players in English football and a huge Irish-supporter fan base”.
He continued, “We are especially pleased to launch Football Furlong™ in Ireland at Leopardstown and to have MasterCard’s support in this groundbreaking new raceday. MasterCard has been a driving force right from the beginning in the Ireland event, and we firmly believe this raceday will be an even greater success with their involvement – Leopardstown Racecourse was the clear favourite as our venue due to its stature as a world class racecourse and its close proximity to Dublin”.
Irish and Premiership football legend, Jason McAteer, said: “Football and racing have always had close links and a lot of the top players are good friends with some of the jockeys such as Kieren Fallon. MasterCard Football Furlong is a fantastic new event for Ireland – it’s sure to be a great night out and something for the fans to support.”
As well as a great evening’s racing, MasterCard Football Furlong will also feature recent Meteor Ireland Music Awards winner – Juliet Turner – performing live in concert at the racecourse after racing.
MasterCard Football Furlong is deliberately scheduled in the off-season in order not to clash with domestic football fixtures and to provide further interest for the considerable football fans based in Ireland in the out-of-season period.
Matt O’Dwyer, Chief Executive of Leopardstown, said: “MasterCard Football Furlong fits perfectly with our objectives of seeking new initiatives and opportunities to help raise the public profile of the sport and attract new audiences to racing at Leopardstown. We will be giving MasterCard Football Furlong our full support within our summer racing season. We especially welcome MasterCard as new sponsors to Leopardstown“.
Rita Broe, VP of Marketing for MasterCard in Northern Europe, said: “MasterCard Football Furlong is an exciting new event and we are pleased to be involved with it. We have been a global sponsor and supporter of football for many years, and it’s great to find a sponsorship which brings this together with another great Irish passion – horse racing. The day should be truly priceless!
For further information, please contact:
Rod Kohler, Revolution Tel: + 00 44 (0)7770 647662
Notes to Editors:
Tickets to MasterCard Football Furlong are available at Leopardstown online at www.leopardstown.com or through its ticket hotline 01 289 0500.
Disclaimer:
Neither Football Furlong™ or any other parties detailed are authorised by or associated with any of the Clubs or The Premier League.
MasterCard Football Furlong Race Format & Conditions
Horses will ‘represent’ one English football club only in each race.
Six races. Each race limited to 10 runners with two reserves. (Eligibility of horses will be determined by their ratings).
Horses will enter in the normal way.
All jockeys will wear special football club shirt colour silks.
10 horses per race will be pre-drawn at random from each race ‘squad’ and independently allocated to one football club to provide an even allocation for each of the 20 football clubs over the six races.
Each club will be represented once in a total of three races.
Points will be awarded to each horse that finishes in each race to create the League table for each football club (10 points for 1st – 1 point for 10th); the football club with the most points in the ‘league’ after all six races have been run will receive the perpetual MasterCard Football Furlong Trophy.
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leading global payments solutions company that provides a broad variety of innovative services in support of our global members’ credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs. MasterCard International manages a family of well-known, widely accepted payment cards brands including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus® and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning Priceless® advertising campaign is now seen in 96 countries and in 48 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more information go to www.mastercardinternational.com or refer to our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Leopardstown Racecourse
Leopardstown has been continuously upgraded and developed over the years to become one of the premier racecourses in Europe, in terms of both the quality of racing and its facilities. The roll of both equine and human legends which have thrilled Leopardstown racegoers over the years is infinite, including modern day stars as Florida Pearl, Istabraq, Giant’s Causeway and Sinndar.
