The much loved comedy podcast getting behind sport in Wales

This week The Socially Distant Sports Bar will celebrate its 100th episode. The podcast success story of lockdown has taken on a life of its own thanks to the comedy dynamism of Mike Bubbins, Elis James and Steffan Garrero.

A hugely successful patreon scheme has afforded the podcast the opportunity to give back to the sporting community in Wales.

Here, Socially Distant Sports Bar host Steffan Garrero explains how by a socially responsible approach, with the focus on the Welsh sporting community, the podcast has taken on a life outside itself.

“When we started The Socially Distant Sports Bar we wanted to create a fun sports podcast. Something which treated sport in the way that you do when talk about sport with your friends.

“We knew it would work as a podcast but the business side of it was new to us. We looked at marketing. We looked at this a lot.

“And then we saw a tweet from Cardiff Schools Rugby asking for shirt sponsors and it all fell into place. We would get our product on the shirts of local teams.

“A win, win for us. Combining advertising with sport.

“But has it worked?”

1. Increased Brand Awareness

Met Caerdydd ar y blaen!

Pêl hyfryd gan Taylor O’Leary ac Emily Allen yn ergydio ar draws y gôl i gefn y rhwyd 💥

⚽️ @CardiffMetWFC 1-0 Abertawe#AdranPremier yn fyw ar @S4C 📺 pic.twitter.com/91LuZolWgy

— Sgorio ⚽️ (@sgorio) September 5, 2021

“Advertising costs money and it doesn’t always guarantee an upsurge in numbers.

“There are three of us on the podcast and we all picked a team to sponsor.

“I lecture at Cardiff Metropolitan University so I chose the women’s football team there. They play in the Adran Premier and their matches feature on S4C.

“So come the first game of the season our brand is live on TV.”

2. More Downloads

“Ultimately the success of all advertising comes down to figures. The important numbers for us as a podcast are downloads. And they’ve gone up every time we’ve sponsored a team.

“Mike chose Cardiff Schools U16s rugby team to sponsor and Elis selected two of Carmarthen Town FC’s Academy sides.

“It makes sense.

“The logos on the shirts stand out and that makes parents, coaches and fans talk. Those conversations lead to people seeking out the product.

“Brand Awareness leading to action. Our social media engagement from people associated directly with the teams we sponsor shows that it works.

“Our download numbers show that it works.”

3. Being True To Who We Are

“The podcast goes off on a lot of tangents – it’s unscripted and that leads to a lot of funny conversations.

“One thing we return to a lot is the attitude of sports fans and the media to women’s sports.

“The lazy stereotyping. How some men on social media find it impossible to not reply in a negative way to anything about women’s sport.

“We’ve spoken a lot about levelling the playing field. But talking about it is only one step.

“Being proactive and backing a team is another step.

“We really believe in what we say, so sponsoring a team in the Adran Premier made perfect sense.”

4. Reducing costs for players

“Playing sport is one of the greatest experiences in life. You make friends for life and push the limits of what you thought you could do.

“You learn teamwork and individual responsibility. But as a Dad to three kids I know that the financial costs of any sport, at any level, are high.

“By sponsoring the shirts we can help the players, the parents and the coaches to worry about performances rather than money.

“Sport relies on sponsorship.”

5. Our logos look really cool

“Dave Prendergast from Doodlemoose Designs makes our logos and for every team we sponsor we wanted there to be something unique about that design.

“Something special, which hopefully shows that we’re part of your team rather than just some distant benefactor.

“For Cardiff Met WFC I’m wearing the kit in the logo, for Cardiff Schools U16s Mike is wearing the Blue and Black stripes and for Camarthen Town U10s and U14s Elis has the All Golds kit.

“A little thing.

“But an important thing.”

Find out more about the Socially Distant Sports Bar HERE

Read about how the Socially Distant Sports Bar became the huge success it is HERE