Once the ice that saw Christmas fixtures cancelled had thawed, the Old Cranleighan field hockey teams were back in action during a wet and windy January.
Pictures from recent games on the website of the Surrey-based amateur sports team in the UK show a handful of friends, family and coaches, as well as rugby players warming up on a neighbouring field, half-heartedly taking in the action.
A news update on the club’s website indicates that there are sometimes as many as 130 people watching the men’s first XI.
It hardly seems a prime location for the Cayman Islands tourism banner that billows in the wind on the metal fencing surrounding the Astroturf pitch.
But the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, according to redacted records obtained by the Compass following a protracted ‘freedom of information’ request, appears to have been donating just over CI$10,000 a year since 2019 to sponsor the obscure club, linked to a boarding school in the leafy London suburbs.
According to the club website, the DoT has helped fund a new LED scoreboard for the all-weather pitch, sponsored the junior programme and is a shirt sponsor for some of the club’s amateur sides.
It is one of a series of niche sports partnerships, collectively worth more than half-a-million dollars, undertaken by the Department of Tourism over the past three years.
Some of the details of the agreements were supplied to the Compass in late December in heavily redacted form following an open-records request, initially filed in February last year. Citing trade secrets and commercial sensitivity, officials blacked-out key details included in the agreements in the FOI response.
The department argues that such sponsorships help create awareness of the Cayman brand at relatively low cost.
Some of the deals involved relatively well-known teams that occasionally appear on television, including London Irish Rugby Club, Portsmouth FC and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
Other deals include small amateur sports clubs that attract almost no media coverage or support beyond a small coterie of family and friends.
Chief among those is the Old Cranleighan Hockey Club.
Inquiries by the Compass have confirmed that Adrian White, the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism’s regional manager for UK and Europe (pictured second from right in the above Facebook post announcing the Portsmouth deal), is linked to the club, has played for its teams and coached in its junior programme. His LinkedIn profile indicates he attended the affiliated Cranleigh School.
He did not respond to a series of questions emailed from the Compass, including whether he personally authorised the deal and why Cayman should fund a recreational hockey team in Surrey.
White was quoted in a press release announcing an expansion of the deal in 2020, which makes no mention of his involvement with the club, only his affiliation with the DoT. As the UK representative, he is heavily involved in sponsorship agreements and is quoted in the majority of the department’s media releases in that sector.
The exact details of the sponsorship arrangement and the business case justifying the expenditure, for the hockey club and for the majority of the other teams, are redacted in government’s FOI response.
White described as ‘catalyst’ for Cayman deal
In a ‘player profile’ on the Old Cranleighan website, White, the men’s defence captain, is described as “the catalyst to our Cayman Islands sponsorship”.
“Cayman is a beautiful and safe holiday destination in the Caribbean and the hockey and rugby players and families based in Surrey are closer to their target market than many other sports,” he said in the interview.
“If everyone takes a look at their website or visit their Facebook page and sees how stunning it is, then the sponsorship will have been worth it.”
The hockey club’s Facebook page has 690 followers.
At the time he made those comments, in February 2021, the islands’ borders had been closed to tourists for almost a year and would remain closed to most visitors for another 10 months.
DoT unaware of links
In an emailed response to a series of questions from the Compass, the Department of Tourism broadly defended its policy of sponsoring sports teams in the UK, saying the deals had allowed them to reach hundreds of thousands of potential visitors with year-round advertising.
But the response, attributed to a spokesperson, acknowledged that officials were unaware of White’s affiliations with the club.
“At the time the sponsorship was undertaken, the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism was unaware of any affiliation by any team member with the Old Cranleighans hockey club. We are currently reviewing this matter,” the response stated.
Nonetheless, the DoT argued that the sponsorship of the club was in line with its policy of seeking to amplify the Cayman brand through support of grassroots organisations in affluent areas of the UK, particularly Greater London.
It adds that, “The perception of conflict of interest – whether real or apparent – is also taken seriously by the CIDOT and the CIDOT will review this matter.”
From cricket to canoeing
White joined the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism’s London office in 2019 and appears to have been a driving force behind a series of sports sponsorships in the south of England.
A mix of amateur and professional sports teams involved in cricket, hockey, motor racing, rugby, canoeing and soccer have received cash from the DoT.
Ironically, many Cayman Islands sports associations, including field hockey, receive nothing from government.
A list of Department of Tourism partnerships for 2021 – provided to the Compass following our open records request – includes £23,000-per-year for Rosslyn Park FC for a rugby sevens tournament, £20,000-a-year for the Richmond FC rugby team, and around £12,000 over two years for the Weybridge Vandals amateur rugby club. At current exchange rates, the amounts listed in English pounds, would be approximately the same in Cayman Islands dollars.
Some of the bigger ticket deals include £125,000 over three seasons to Portsmouth FC, £60,000 over two years to be the “official winter sun destination” for British canoeing, and almost £100,000 to be the shirt sponsor for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and headline sponsor for its cricket festival.
What does Cayman get from the deals?
The details of what Cayman gets in return are redacted in the FOI response, save for a few broad references. The Compass also asked for the supporting business case and reasons that those brands were selected. This is also not included in the response, which is under appeal with the Ombudsman.
The department, in response to our questions, said, “The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism aims to build awareness of the Cayman Islands as a holiday destination through partnerships with, and sponsorship of, a number of British sports teams. The teams chosen are located in areas that have geographic and/or demographic relevance to the Cayman Islands.”
The DoT also gets access to matches for some of its staff as part of the agreements, which it described as “standard industry practice” in its response.
A series of contemporaneous press releases also shed some light on the issue.
In a September 2020 press release on the Old Cranleighan website – at a time when no regular commercial flights were coming in or out of Cayman – White is quoted on behalf of the Department of Tourism, saying, “We are delighted to further our partnership with Old Cranleighan Hockey Club by sponsoring the Ladies 1st XI. It’s an exciting time for the club and its players as they embark on a new season, and the partnership strengthens our portfolio of top-level sports.”
White made similar comments in a press release in the same month, announcing a deal to be a shirt sponsor for London Irish rugby club.
At the time, all Premiership rugby was being played behind closed doors because of COVID, although many of the games were covered on BT Sport television.
London Irish CEO, Brian Facer, said in the release, “It shows the strength of our brand that we’ve agreed such a significant deal in such testing times.”
For some of the deals, there is scant evidence that the sponsorship has resulted in significant media exposure for Cayman.
Portsmouth FC – in the third professional tier of English football and attracting weekly crowds of around 18,000 to their home base of Fratton Park – are perhaps the most well-known name among the sponsorship recipients.
But a Google search of ‘Cayman’ and ‘Portsmouth’ only comes up with a handful of articles, including the initial sponsorship press release and a speculative article in a local newspaper suggesting the club could consider a pre-season trip to the islands.
The press release from January 2022 indicates the department is sponsoring the Milton End stand at Portsmouth’s Fratton Park football ground, and will have imagery on the big screen and perimeter boards, as well as on the club’s social media channels.
The advertising can be seen in a handful of images that appeared in British media on Portsmouth games. Neil Allen, chief sports writer for the Portsmouth News, said the marketing for Cayman was quite visible around the stadium and also included a full-page advert in the match-day programme.
For many of the sponsorships, the Compass was unable to find significant media coverage outside of the sponsors’ own websites.
British Canoeing, which gets £60,000 from the DoT, features one story about a paddling challenge and some details about Cayman on its site, alongside a press release on the sponsorship.
For Richmond FC rugby, the sponsorship press release on the team website is the only evidence of any media coverage. The Championship side played to an average attendance of around 900 people during the 2021/22 season. The FOI data doesn’t make clear what promotion of the Cayman Islands it undertakes for the £20,000-a-year deal.
Some of the other sponsorship deals appear even more obscure.
The Weybridge Vandals rugby side appear to have no media exposure beyond its own website and social media page. Around 1,000 people follow the club on Facebook.
A sports reporter for the Surrey Advertiser, which covers the area where both the Weybridge Vandals and the Old Cranleighans hockey team compete, said neither side was regularly featured in local newspapers and would not typically attract spectators on game days, beyond friends and family of the players.
Other sponsorships are for higher-profile sports teams, including Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and London Irish rugby. The Cayman Islands is also a sponsor of the Porsche Sprint Challenge.
Cayman Islands branding, including the tourism mascot Sir Turtle, is prominent at the grounds and at events associated with those partners.
The Department of Tourism insists the investment in sports sponsorships at all tiers represents value for money.
“Promoting the Cayman Islands to affluent audiences across the UK year-round for less than the cost of a single newspaper or magazine advertisement delivers significant value for money for the Cayman Islands,” it stated.
“These partnerships have resulted in the Cayman Islands reaching hundreds of thousands of potential visitors and afforded the destination the opportunity to keep the Cayman Islands at the forefront of the consumer’s mind both on and off the field during the pandemic.”
Infographic created by Stephanie Ditta
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