Saracens Statement | Areas of Business Focus
Over the past months, Saracens Group has been conducting a review of our exciting and constantly evolving business to ensure we are best positioned for future growth.
Following the review, moving forward we will be aligning our immediate activities around our primary focus areas of Rugby and Community. It’s really important to us that we focus on supporting both activities within the extensive community, which means so much to all those involved in the Saracens Family.
We are incredibly excited about our Men’s Rugby team competing tomorrow in the Gallagher Premiership semi-final, our 13th semi-final appearance since 2010.
The evolution of our squad in what is a transformational period for the Club has been well documented and we are genuinely excited about the present and the future of the playing group under its outstanding coaching, fitness and conditioning team. We have developed some world class talent at Saracens and our exciting future will be further supported by our Saracens Academy which has seen record representation at all age-grade levels over the past year.
Women’s Rugby has experienced a year of record crowds, and our outstanding team has already secured a home semi-final in The Allianz PWR on the back of the fantastic Allianz Cup success last month. Both the men’s and women’s teams continue to perform at the very highest levels, and we are all so proud of them.
In the Community, we continue to expand and support the amazing work done by those affiliated to the Group and in particular the Saracens Foundation. There are so many incredible participators bringing invaluable services to the Community and, to the tens of thousands whose lives are touched by the crucial work they do, we offer our profound thanks and bring our commitment to grow activities as much as possible in the coming years.
The unique Saracens Multi-Academy Trust is set to embark on an exciting period as it increases its activities. Saracens High School, now exceeding 1000 pupils from the ages of 11-18 , will be joined in the Trust this year by Saracens Bell Lane. With a Saracens Primary School planned in 2026, we are so very proud of the progress being made to support young people in the local area and to bring the principles upon which this Club was founded to the young decision makers of tomorrow. Independent analysis has demonstrated how we have positively touched the lives of literally many hundreds of thousands of people and we intend to keep going and doing as much as we can in this important area where so much of the Saracens Family’s heartbeat comes from.
We believe StoneX Stadium is one of the best places to watch rugby in the UK and we will be working closely with Barnet Council and other stakeholders to ensure that the StoneX Stadium and surrounding areas continues to evolve as a hub, for not just Saracens matchdays, but as a catalyst for health and well-being benefits in the community all year-round. We are working hard on some exciting ideas we hope to bring to you in the coming months.
Unfortunately, however, we have limited resources, and we cannot afford to do everything we would like and have to carefully consider their allocation, so this review also marks a difficult point in what activities we are choosing to move away from.
The most important one of these is that we will be ending our affiliation with the Saracens Mavericks at the conclusion of the 2024 season. We have been delighted to support the growth of the Mavericks and have helped to bring it to the highest levels. There is good news, however, because we have worked closely with England Netball and a new consortium headed up by former Saracens CEO Lucy Wray, has acquired the Mavericks so its future is secured moving forward from 2025 and we know it will continue to thrive.
The announcement today confirming the Mavericks continued place following a successful tender application, which we actively supported, means we can look forward to continuing to support our players, staff, fans and partners through the next month as the NSL reaches an exciting conclusion. More information around this will be shared via Mavericks database and social channels.
In addition, MBN is now under new ownership following the recent completion of scheduled events, which is no longer considered core to our activities.
We are extremely excited about the next phase of our development as we seek to improve upon what we do on and off the pitch, constantly innovating and working with our wonderful supporters hand-in-hand. We can’t do anything without our sponsors, supporters and stakeholders and you are never taken for granted.
For any enquiries which we would be more than happy to answer, please email media@saracens.net. I am looking forward to speaking with some of our Seasonal Members this coming Monday where we can of course answer any questions that you may have.
Best wishes and I hope to see and hear you at some HUGE matches over the coming weeks.
Mark
