Transfield Cup Patrons Were Marketing Pioneers Of their Time

“Sell the sizzle and not the Steak” is one of the first things that you will learn in marketing and this was the basis for the first playing of the Transfield Cup in 1895. In that era of austere poverty, little entertainment and hand to mouth existences sport and religion played a massive part people’s lives.

As religion was out of bounds for sponsorship, being associated with sport in any way was always going to attract attention to your brand. 

Tony G Transfield was no slouch when it came to marketing (though he didn’t call it that at the time) and he saw the opportunity of having his Circus’ name associated with one of Limerick’s most popular pastimes, rugby. 

We need to bear in mind that rugby as a sport, at that time was in its infancy in Ireland. The GAA was less than 10 years old and Soccer as we know it now was barely established at all in the country (the first recorded soccer match in Markets Field was 1891). However the common thread through all of these sports (and many more) in the city was the Markets Field.

Its usage as a sports field predates the GAA, IRFU and FAI but in those days it was used for much more than field sport. Athletics, cycling, religious events and particularly circus’ all took place in the city’s only stadium. When TG Transfield brought his circus to Limerick, which incidentally probably featured a young talented act called Charlie Chaplin who got his start in Transfield’s circus, he naturally held it in the Markets Field.

History doesn’t record whose idea it was but the reasoning was clear. The circus exhibition was to be held before the playing of a Rugby Final in order to promote the circus acts ….Transfield knew how to sell the sizzle and presenting a cup with his name on it meant that Transfield circus wouldn’t be forgotten. 

This was the era of the big performing circus with exotic acts and animals. Anyone who has seen “The Greatest Showman” will identify with the type of character Tony Transfield was. He was a Travelling Circus Promoter from England. His mobile circus actually stopped travelling around the turn of the 1900’s but the family remained in the entertainment business building and developing playhouses and “hippodromes”.

It is more than ironic that now nearly a century and a quarter later that the only trace we have of TG Transfield Travelling Circus is in a cup being contested for in the place it all began, the Markets Field. Maybe the steak outlasted the sizzle after all!!!!

Newcastlewest RFC take on Abbeyfeale RFC at 2.30pm in the Final of the Transfield Cup with a 2.30pm kick-off this coming Sunday 27^th January. It will be the first time in over 80 years that the cup has been played for at the venue