Bulmers' Connection with Tipperary United Sports Panel Goes Back 60 Years
Presentation Booklet for the Annerville Awards at Clonmel on January 25, 2025
This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the sponsorship of the Tipperary United Sports Panel Awards by Bulmers.
In connection with the presentation of the 1964 awards in the Ormonde Hotel, Clonmel on January 31, 1965, a large advertisement appeared in The Nationalist newspaper announcing the sponsorship: 'The Irish Cider & Perry Company Ltd salute the Tipperary Sports Stars of 1964 and are pleased to sponsor the Cidona Trophies'.
This was a major coup for the original members of a group of men, who assembled in the Slievenamon Hotel on December 12, 1959 with the object of promoting sport throughout Tipperary by the annual presentation of awards to selected stars. The group, which included Sean Cleary, Sean Lyons, Sean Barlow, Bill Hyland, Christy Mulcahy, Eddie O'Neill Bill O'Brien, Paddy Cummins, Ken Hogan, Tom Halpin and Ted Dillon, adopted the name, United Sports Panel, and presented their first awards in St. Patrick's Hall in Clonmel on January 17, 1960.
The sports honoured were camogie, soccer, table tennis, sports executive, athletics, cycling, hurling, basketball and Gaelic football. Each winner was presented with a cup and, in the course of his speech introducing the stars at the presentation, Sean Lyons thanked those who had donated trophies.
The need to have regular presentation trophies for the stars was a problem for the panel. It became more urgent in 1962, when the panel made an important addition to the awards with the decision to honour an outstanding sportsperson from the past to the list of recipients. They gave the name Knocknagow to this award and by its very nature something special was required.
The advent of the Bulmers sponsorship was timely, as it afforded the panel the opportunity to provide suitable trophies of regular design. However, the range of trophies presented could differ from year to year and the need for something more permanent was required, especially for the Knocknagow Award. Cidona Awards
Bulmers took the initiative in 1979 when Maurice Durney from the company contacted Thomas Glendon about designing a suitable trophy for the Knocknagow Award and a secondary award for the Cidona Awards for established and emerging athletes. Considering the brand and products produced by Bulmers, a motif based on an apple appeared the most appropriate.
And so, permanent trophies became the norm in the presentation of the awards. The awards for the stars continued to be presented until a number of years ago, when the panel had a new award designed by John Quirke of Cahir.
Annerville Award
The association of Bulmers with the awards was made permanent with the adoption of the Cidona name for the awards from the advent of the sponsorship. The name continued to be used in the awards until 2007, when the name was changed to the Annerville Awards. The Cidona brand was no longer held by Showerings Ltd, the parent company, so the name Cidona could not be retained as the name for the awards. A new name had to be found and the one chosen was Annerville, the name of the townland near Clonmel where the company is located.
So, after 42 years of the Cidona Awards, they were called the Annerville awards in 2007, and presented as such at the presentation dinner at Hotel Minella on February 2, 2008.
The two names, Cidona and Annerville, indelibly connect the United Sports Panel with Bulmers and the Showerings company and reflect the long connection between a bunch of sporting enthusiasts and a local company, both with a love for and a desire to promote Tipperary sport at heart.