€10k sports funding boost for Ballina NS

Four Tipperary schools have each won €10,000 in Aldi’s primary school sticker competition.

The good news for the Ballina school came after Aldi and the IRFU announced the winning and runner-up primary schools of its 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.

Ballina NS was one of ten primary schools including three others from Co Tipperary that will receive a €10,000 donation to sports equipment or facilities. Two Leinster schools - Tara Hill National School, Gorey, Co Wexford and Scoil Naomh Bríd, Kiltegan, Co Wicklow - won the top prize of €50,000.

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 one 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 other schools to win in Tipperary were Rossmore National School, Cashel; Poulacapple National School, Mullinahone and Lisvernane National School, Lisvernane, The Glen of Aherlow.

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.”

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.