Farewell Tommy Varden

[GalwayBayBoy]

`Galway News`


ONE of the most enduring courtships in the history of Irish sport comes to an end today when Tommy Varden bids farewell to his sponsorship deal with Galway footballers.

The Tuam businessman has decided to relinquish his sponsorship deal with the footballers after a relationship which has spanned over two decades.

Tommy Varden began sponsoring the Galway football club championships back in the mid-1980s and has for the past 17 years been the sponsor of the county's senior team.

He was one of the first business names to have his name on an inter-county jersey in Ireland. A great friend of the late Sean Purcell, Tommy Varden has been a fanatical Galway supporter all his life but has now decided that the time is right to make way for a new sponsor.

It comes at a time when Tommy Varden is passing on a lot of the business responsibility to his family — the decision though marks the end of an era in Galway sport.

Galway Football Board Chairman John Joe Holleran said that for over the past 20 years, Tommy Varden had been a most generous and wonderful supporter of Galway football. "Tommy Varden was with us in the good times but also the bad times when things weren't going that well on the field or financially either.

"He was certainly no fair weather supporter — and Galway football owes him a deep debt of gratitude. In today's terms his financial contribution to Galway has been well over €1 million," said John Joe Holleran.

Galway's new sponsor — a closely guarded secret — will be announced later today  (Tuesday )  in the county's Gaelic Football Centre at Loughgeorge.

[GalwayBayBoy]

New sponsors of Galway football

[orangeman]

Not a great secret then !  

[irunthev]

Great story from a few years back about Tommy Varden.

Back in the early days of Tommy Varden's sponsorship, when having the sponsor's name on the jersey you bought in a shop wasn't standard and would have cost extra, a fella called Martin Hession from Glenamaddy walked into a local sports shop and wanted to buy a Galway jersey.
The guy in the shop asked him if he wanted Tommy Varden's name on the front of the jersey, to which Martin replied: "Well would Tommy Varden want my name on the front of his jersey?"
The story got out and a few weeks later Tommy appeared in the national press along with the shop owner wearing a Galway jersey with the name "Martin Hession" emblazoned across the front of it.
A bit of a Michael O'Leary moment there from Tommy, but as they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity.