Bring on the rugby fans

There's a world cup about to start, in case you hadn't heard. Next Friday morning, 30 burly men will chase an egg-shaped ball around a stadium in Sydney, signalling the start of the fifth Rugby World Cup.

For pubs, bars and restaurants, televising the event promises to be a marketing and revenue bonanza, as sports nuts make a beeline for their nearest hostelry to cheer on their particular heroes in the company of fellow fans. Besides the obvious opportunity to shift food and beverages, the cup offers the chance for outlets to strengthen bonds with their existing customer base, and reel in new regulars.

The event takes place in Australia, and most matches will be played between 7am and 10am, UK time. But last year's football World Cup, which was hosted by Japan and Korea, proved that an appetite exists for watching sport in bars, no matter how early the start. And this time, the British Isles has not just two, but four home teams participating. Add to that the large numbers of Australasians and South Africans living in our cities, and you have a recipe for sales success.

Paul Clapham, of marketing specialist Junction 13, believes the marketing potential is extraordinary. "ITV is covering all games, uniquely in the world," he points out. "Why? Because of the quality of the audience: ABC1 males, typically 25-45 - the toughest group to get to through the mass media. If ITV takes the world cup that seriously, everyone else should."

He continues: "Your typical rugby fan or player, compared with football fans, is significantly higher up the commercial value tree. They're decision-makers. Getting them in to watch a match is a great opportunity to show off your [venue's] wares, and to get them in the habit of coming to your place."

In other words, wow these customers through October, and a significant proportion could be calling subsequently to book corporate functions and Christmas parties.

This sounds great, but how can bar and pub managers ensure that the customer scrum muscles through their doors, and not those of their competitors?

"It's all about making a big song-and-dance outside your place", Clapham says. "Make your board signage painfully clear. For every real rugby fan, there are 20 people who might simply think, ‘I wouldn't mind watching a bit of rugby this lunchtime' - so sell each match to them."

Pub landlord Martin Rawlings is a past master at attracting rugby crowds. Rawlings, who runs the Woodman in Wimbledon, south London, one of Scottish & Newcastle's John Barras chain of bars, knows just how lucrative early morning rugby matches can be. "On the morning of a recent rugby world cup warm-up game, the Woodman had 160 people in at 8am and took £700 by 11am," he says.

Rawlings advertises his sports coverage in local papers, pitches A-boards outside his pub, and will be running home nations' flags up his flagpole before games this autumn.

Marketing need not be confined to the real world. Cannier landlords and managers will already have registered their venue at www.sportspubs.co.uk, a website devoted to directing fans to their nearest sports bars.

The Woodman, for example, will be showing every world cup game - "consistency always pays off," Rawlings says - and games, gimmicks and promotions will be laid on at each of them.

Face-painting will be encouraged among staff. Music will reflect the teams playing (Swing Low Sweet Chariot for England, Tom Jones's Delilah for Wales, and so on), as will the menu, which will encompass bangers and mash, haggis, leek-and-potato soup, and Irish stew. Branded drinks from rugby-playing nations will be available, and even lager will be coloured with appropriate food dyes.

Rawlings will also encourage customers' participation to amount to more than merely throwing beer down their necks. Lyric sheets will allow them to sing along with pre-match anthems; conversion-kicking competitions will be held in the pub garden; and there'll be a "Time-a-Try" competition, with a rugby shirt for the person who guesses when the first try in a match will be run in.

Rawlings estimates that women can constitute as much as 60% of his rugby audiences - "boyfriends bring their girlfriends, and girlfriends bring their friends," he says - and sets the tone of the Woodman accordingly. "We make the place female-friendly, and we don't let things get too rowdy, so no one feels offended," he says. "We can do table service if need be in certain areas." (Clapham suggests managers keep a yellow card on hand for warning rowdy or foul-mouthed elements in a light-hearted way.)

Of course, not all customers will want to watch rugby, and the last thing you want to do is drive out regular trade. Clapham suggests dividing off one area of your property and hanging a sign reading: "If you hate rugby, come in here."

Dates for the diary

(All kick-offs are UK time) 10 October 1000 Australia v Argentina
11 October 0800 Ireland v Romania
12 October 0900 Wales v Canada
12 October 1100 Scotland v Japan
12 October 1300 England v Georgia
18 October 1300 South Africa v England
19 October 0900 Wales v Tonga
19 October 1130 Ireland v Namibia
20 October 1030 Scotland v USA
25 October 0930 Italy v Wales
25 October 1130 France v Scotland
26 October 0730 Argentina v Ireland
26 October 0930 England v Samoa
1 November 0500 Scotland v Fiji
1 November 0930 Australia v Ireland
2 November 0730 England v Uruguay
2 November 0935 New Zealand v Wales

Quarter-finals 8 November 0730
8 November 1000
9 November 0730
9 November 1000

Semi-finals 15 November 0900
16 November 0900

Third-place play-off 20 November 0900

Final 22 November 0900
(For a full schedule, go to www.rugby2003.com.au)

Champion cocktails

Should any one of the Six Nations championship teams manage to lift the world cup on 22 November, you'll want to offer customers something a little bit special to toast the victory. Here are a few ideas, created by bar training specialists at the Training School (www.thetrainingschool.com).

Ireland

Black Velvet Depending on your personal preference, take any glass from a champagne flute to a pint glass. Half-fill the glass with Guinness, then top with Champagne.

This is easy to remember when truly inebriated, and is guaranteed to get the blarney flowing.

Recipe 1½ glass Guinness
1½ glass Champagne

England

Hedgerow Sling This comes from a country renowned for its hedgerows and gin, and in blackberry season too. Served over ice in a highball, this is not too feminine for those concerned with appearing less than "rugby-like".

Recipe
25ml Beefeater gin
25ml sloe gin
25ml lemon juice
Splash gomme (sugar syrup)

Top with soda, lace with Crème de Mure, and garnish with blackberry and a slice of lemon.

France

Death in the Afternoon Whether this refers to the outcome of the French match or the cocktail, only time will tell. France may historically be the first home of absinthe, but it remains illegal.

Recipe 15-20ml Absinthe

Top with Champagne, and serve in a Champagne flute.

Wales

Red Dragon
A twist on the Golden Dragon, created for Caterer by Michael Butt, this is a surprisingly tropical drink for a country dominated by rainswept mountains.

Recipe 50ml Tequila
25ml lime juice
20ml Pisang Ambon
10ml passion fruit syrup
20ml apple juice
20ml cranberry juice

Shake and strain into a highball, and garnish with a wedge of lime and a raspberry.

Italy

Rossini With a name like this, it would have to be Italian, and it's classic, sophisticated, and rather fruity.

Recipe 15ml strawberry purée

Top with Champagne.

Garnish with a plump, ripe strawberry and serve in a Champagne flute.

Scotland

Rob Roy
It would have to be a Scotch-based drink - a great chaser to all the pints that may precede it. But balancing your macho tendencies with your feminine side, it's whisky served in a Martini glass.

Recipe 50ml Scotch (of your choice)
20ml sweet vermouth

Dash angostura bitters

Stir in chilled Martini glass with orange twist.

10 tactics to try

• Make the first drink free to anyone wearing his or her national strip.
• Hide beer vouchers under some seats, and alert drinkers to them at half-time.
• Time-a-Try: customers pick a minute, and the one who correctly guesses the time of the first try wins a rugby shirt.
• Print out pub-branded T-shirts commemorating the competition.
• Offer jugs of beer whose capacity corresponds with rugby's scoring system - five pints for a try, three pints for a penalty, and so on.
• Hold conversion-kicking competitions in the beer garden.
• Carry branded alcoholic drinks from around the globe, and feature guest beers from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
• Hand out lyric sheets to the home nations' national anthems.
• Brandish a yellow card as a warning to customers who are too rowdy.
• Hand out coffee-shop-style stamp cards: collect enough stamps at first-round matches and get free pints in the quarter-finals.