Adventure Kings named as Dolphins' principal sponsor

By Nick Crockford and Kylie Knight

The Dolphins have today revealed Adventure Kings will be their principal sponsor for the next four years in an “historic deal” for the new NRL club.

The sponsorship with Adventure Kings, an Australian owned and operated company which specialises in 4WD, camping and outdoor leisure gear, starts immediately.

Dolphins NRL CEO Terry Reader said the deal was signed before the NRL licence had been granted in a "testament to the faith that Adventure Kings have in the club". 

“We had a national company that doesn’t invest in rugby league willing to stand with us and were part of our submission and wanted to be the inaugural partner of our club in a deal for them and for us that meets our objectives and we’re both very happy,” Mr Reader said.

“The northern corridor is really relevant for them … they have a superstore down the road and also on the Sunshine Coast."

Perfect fit

Like the Dolphins, Adventure Kings started small but dreamed big and has gone on to become one of the leaders in their industry.

The company sees its partnership with Dolphins as a ‘perfect fit’ for the NRL’s new 17^th team and its fan base with camping and leisure so popular in this region and beyond.

“We see great synergy in the shared values with the Dolphins,” Adventure Kings CEO Christian Rolfe said.

“It’s a really exciting time for Adventure Kings … a small family company growing up, have an absolute passion and love for the outdoors , sport in general.

“We reached out to Terry and the guys looking to get involved at a junior level but talks progressed from there and (we were) lucky enough to be involved with the NRL bid, so we’re absolutely ecstatic to be involved and really looking forward to our journey together.”

Mr Rolfe grew up playing rugby league and said the partnership reflected the company’s passion for the outdoors.

“As the company’s grown we were looking at getting to the point of teaming up with a community-based organisation, so we were really looking at the junior footy and decided we’d take it from there,” he said.

Sharing a journey

“Similarly, to the Adventure Kings’ story as a brand, the Dolphins have built their success on a dream followed by years of hard work and a love for the Australia’s community’s favourite past times.

"The Dolphins are only beginning their journey and Adventure Kings is looking forward to bringing the NRL partnership to life."

Adventure Kings has 19 company-owned stores and 50 stockists in Australia and New Zealand and will be Dolphins' front-of-jersey sponsor with the association filtering down to Redcliffe Dolphins juniors and QCup teams.

Heritage jersey

Dolphins also unveiled their heritage jersey at today's announcement, which will be worn during the Heritage round in 2023.

The NRL team's regular home and away jerseys will be revealed when Dolphins launch their 2023 campaign, their first in the NRL, next year.

Mr Reader said the Heritage jersey was inspired by those worn by Redcliffe Dolphins players in the 1980s, featuring the iconic red and white, with the club's new third colour - gold.

“We'll have it done in our partnership with Classic, as we’ve already announced, and we’ll look to have product in place for Christmas time to make sure our fans and new supporters can actually get some merchandise," he said.

"We’ve been inundated … people wanting to know where they can get any sort of a polo or hat, so we’re working through with the NRL now to finalise everything around the branding so we can get all that licensing through.

"We know it will be well-received (by fans) and it’s something the club wanted to do because they’ve been working for this for many years and especially over the last 30 years when the Broncos came in. They have been doing everything they can to invest in infrastructure and facilities to one day put the best foot forward to return top-flight football to the club. It’s here, we’re excited and we’ll never forget the history of the club."

Today’s sponsorship announcement follows Dolphins’ appointment of Wayne Bennett, the most successful coach in the history of the game, as their inaugural coach.

Dolphins were unveiled as the NRL’s 17^th and newest team just two weeks ago, on October 13.

Their bid overcame challenges from rivals Brisbane Firehawks and Brisbane Jets, proving the Redcliffe-based club has the assets, growing fan base and processes in place to hit the ground running.