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A joint venture between Velocity Brand Management, Sports and Entertainment Limited and Line 7, the LIM contract gives leading clothing brand Canterbury of New Zealand (CCC) the exclusive worldwide rights to sell their range of official tournament apparel. The deal also includes a wider apparel contract which will see IRB Match Officials wear the famous CCC brand for the next three years.

The master licensing rights also enable LIM to sub-license companies to produce merchandise in all categories of products across the Rugby World Cup 2011 inventory (excluding balls, DVDs and other audio visual products) in all global territories with the exception of Europe and South Africa.

“Rugby World Cup Limited is delighted to welcome on board LIM, a joint venture between three leading companies, as Master Licensees for Rugby World Cup 2011,” said Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

“The awarding of the master licensing rights is a key element of the Rugby World Cup 2011 commercial programme. In finalising the contract three years before the start of the tournament, the global Rugby Community will be able to purchase a broad range of official merchandise earlier than for any previous Rugby World Cup,” added Lapasset.

James Ashworth, Director LIM said: “We are really excited about establishing a world class licensing and merchandising programme for Rugby World Cup 2011 and working with local New Zealand companies.”

A range of official merchandise featuring men’s and women’s T-shirts, polo shirts, Rugby jerseys, jackets, merino wool clothing and caps has already gone on sale in New Zealand. The response from the Rugby Community has been enormous with a strong demand for the range of official tournament apparel.

The next phase of the launch is global merchandise roll-out with the official merchandise website going live in April 2009. The full range of clothing will then be launched within the territories of the Rugby World Cup 2011 participating teams.

(Source: IRB)