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\t\t“We don\u2019t call Bristol Bears a rugby club. We’re a marketing agency.”\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tFriday 08 May 2026 6:20 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 06 May 2026 12:04 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t“We don\u2019t call Bristol Bears a rugby club. We’re a marketing agency.”\t<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Bristol Bears, we don\u2019t call ourselves a rugby club. We are a marketing agency that plays rugby. Yes, our players have to be competent and able to deliver on the field, but if they are not bringing any value off the field, that genuinely factors into our recruitment conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were the words of Prem Rugby club Bristol Bears\u2019 chief executive Tom Tainton, and it is fair to say that they have caused a stir over the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
The club were forced to back down and clarify, arguing that the words were taken out of context in an answer at a sports conference relating to the West Country club signing the likes of Louis Rees-Zammit and Ilona Maher.<\/p>\n
But he needn\u2019t have bothered. Because he is spot on.<\/p>\n
Bristol Bears hit back<\/p>\n
Bristol Bears \u2013 whether the fans like it or not \u2013 have become a catalyst for cultural influence on the game in England. They play exciting rugby and sign players with personality: from the bulldozing and straight-talking Ellis Genge to the aforementioned darling of Penarth, Rees-Zammit.<\/p>\n
Looking at Bristol Bears as a business rather than a sports club is the exact approach that can power them into markets beyond the pitch. The game is complicated and there are too many rules; new fans need to be drawn into the game and that happens through personalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis comment was unfortunately taken out of context in a news article which has since sparked considerable debate online,\u201d a Bristol Bears statement said. \u201cTo reassure our supporters, while we are proud to be different at Bears, our number one priority is performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n
\t\t\tCornish Pirates announce US investment into Champ Rugby team<\/a><\/p>\n But it is not like we haven\u2019t seen this before. England Rugby effectively spun their women\u2019s team into the Red Roses as a marketing ploy and it has proved genius, while the likes of the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies play on a brand rather than their traditional South Africa, New Zealand and Australia tags.<\/p>\n DeChambeau-style<\/p>\n Further to this, players need to be branded in a way Cristiano Ronaldo, Coco Gauff and Bryson DeChambeau are. Matchroom dipping its toe into rugby, with Eddie Hearn signing Finn Russell and Henry Pollock, is only natural in the evolution of a sport that has been professional for three decades but so often still feels amateur.<\/p>\n Promising Saracens winger Noah Caluori presented an award at a glitzy London sports dinner last week alongside the likes of CBS Golazo\u2019s Kate Scott and Team GB skeleton gold medalist Matt Weston. These are the exact rooms Tainton wants his players in, and he shouldn\u2019t need to clarify that ambition.<\/p>\n If you asked many of the people who claim to be fans of Wrexham about football, a number of them \u2013 especially overseas \u2013 wouldn\u2019t be too forthcoming with an answer, but they\u2019d know about the owners and push for promotion. It is the Ted Lasso-fication of sport, and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n And the wider Bristol Sport organisation has itself been a pioneer in this space, selling a stake in their women\u2019s football team to multi-club investors Mercury 13.<\/p>\n Tainton is bang on, and we shouldn\u2019t berate him for laying out the pathway to rugby security, and therefore success.<\/p>\n Former England Sevens<\/strong><\/a> captain <\/strong>Ollie Phillips<\/strong><\/a> is the founder of <\/strong>Optimist Performance<\/strong><\/a>. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11<\/strong><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n