Aldi Announces Winners Of €200,000 Primary School Sticker Competition

Today, Aldi and the IRFU announced the two winning primary schools of the hugely successful Aldi Play Rugby sticker competition, which ran earlier this year. Despite schools being closed, and the promotion put on hold for a few months, a fantastic number of schools entered this year, once again highlighting Aldi Ireland’s ongoing commitment to local communities across the country.

The competition, now in its third year gave every primary school in the country the opportunity of winning one of two €50,000 sports facility makeovers by collecting Aldi Play Rugby stickers. Shoppers could collect 1 sticker for every €30 spent in any of the 144 Aldi stores nationwide. After what has been a turbulent year across the country, this kind of prize for the winning schools couldn’t have come at a better time, with schools keen to keep sporting and wellbeing of children foremost in minds.

The two winners of the €50,000 prizes are:
• Tara Hill National School, Gorey, Co. Wexford
• Scoil Naomh Bríd, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow

Principal of Tara Hill National School, Patricia Sadlier said:

“This is the most amazing news for our school. We are absolutely overjoyed and very thankful to Aldi. It is a hugely transformative amount of money and the equipment and resources that we will be able to purchase will be of enormous benefit to our pupils and the wider community.”

Principal of Scoil Naomh Bríd, Lisa Jackson said:  “We returned to a difficult school year in August, with not much prospect of excitement ahead for our pupils. A phone call from Aldi change this. Aldi have given us a once in a lifetime opportunity. We have been given a transformative sum of money to make our dreams for our fabulous school become a reality. €50,000 will change our school and positively impact on the lives of our pupils and pupils for years to come. A sincere thank you to Aldi from all in Scoil Naomh Bríd.”

As well as the winners of the two €50,000 sports facility upgrades, ten primary schools around the country will receive a €10,000 donation to sports equipment or facilities:
• Rossmore National School, Cashel, Co. Tipperary
• Scoil na Mhuire, Billeragh, Araglin, Co. Cork
• Ballina Primary School, Grange Road, Ballina, Co. Tipperary
• Scoil Choill Mhic Thomaisin, Rossmore, Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford
• Gaelscoil Bhreifne, Cnoc an Choilligh, Cavan
• Poulacapple National School, Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary
• Gaelscoil Mhachan, Ave de Rennes, Machan, An Charraig Dubh, Co. Cork
• Lisvernane National School, Lisvernane, The Glen of Aherlow, Co. Tipperary
• Graignamanagh Boys National School, Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny
• Shanagarry National School, Shanagarry, Midleton, Co. Cork

Each primary school that submitted a valid poster will receive an Aldi Play Rugby kit bag which includes rugby balls, water bottles and water bottle holders per completed poster! Due to the phenomenal success of the campaign, Aldi will be sending out thousands of kit bags to primary schools across the country.

Aldi Play Rugby Ambassador Paul O’Connell commented: “This year has presented huge challenges for parents, teachers and students alike and it is highlighted I think the importance of sport for our wellbeing irrespective of our age. Congratulations to all the schools that took part and in particular Tara Hill National School, Gorey, Co. Wexford and Scoil Naomh Bríd, Kiltegan, Co. Wicklow. I am sure the €50,000 will be well spent by the schools management to help with the development of their school’s sports facilities.

Aldi Ireland Group Buying Director John Curtin said:

“We are so proud of the success of Aldi Play Rugby, every year more and more boys and girls have taken up the rugby ball, learnt new non-contact skills and enjoyed sport – something that I don’t think we will ever take for granted again. On behalf of all the staff at Aldi around the country in our 144 stores, we congratulate not only the two schools that have won €50,000 each but every single child or parent who collected a sticker to put it on their school poster.”

A national IRFU programme for primary school children, Aldi Play Rugby is a free, supervised and non-contact rugby programme that provides everything schools need to get started, including sessions with local IRFU staff, online coaching resources and free coaching equipment. The overall objective of the programme is to encourage school children to get active, participate in regular exercise in a safe and controlled environment and to eat healthily.

The Aldi Play Rugby programme has gone from strength to strength since it launched with over 116,000 children from over 1,300 primary schools across the country signed up to take part. This is an increase of 71% in just over 4 years. There are 150 teachers across the country that are now trained on the programme, an increase of 275% since 2016.

Des Kavanagh, President of the IRFU said today:  “The IRFU has worked very closely with Aldi to ensure that this year even more children had the opportunity to engage in the Aldi Play Rugby programme before Covid 19 struck. To date over 100 IRFU community rugby officers provided free coaching support as part of Aldi Play Rugby. This programme has been a huge success for the sport of rugby and for us as an organisation engaging with the youth of Ireland”.