Marcus Buckley Bennion, MD, Ubique Event Management; and organiser of the All-Ireland Corporate Games.

For Marcus Buckley Bennion, Limerick offered the chance of 'a whole new ball game' when his company was awarded the contract to stage the 2008 All-Ireland Corporate Games.

Liverpudlian Mr Buckley Bennion was in the British Army and became involved in general event management when he left before "drifting" into sports event management. He set up his own company, Ubique, which has three main projects—golf and golf festivals, cricket and cricket festivals and the corporate games (around 40% of its total activity).

The company worked on the Indian Ocean Corporate Games last year before the event had to be cancelled because of political unease in Sri Lanka but its good work paid off when the contract for the Irish games on June 21 and 22 was awarded to them.

"There have been huge challenges since we took over the event. The games were staged in Limerick in 2001 so there are still a lot of fond memories attached to that but the event was different in that it was the UK and Ireland Corporate Games and had a much bigger entry. It was split into two separate events in 2002 and the Irish event moved to Belfast. The Irish entry is hovering around 1,500 so we think there is huge potential for growth there," he explained.

The company Mr Buckley Bennion said that Limerick's compact city centre and world class sports facilities makes it the perfect spot to hold the event, which is expected to be based here for at least five years.

"Belfast is a fantastic city but the games were very spread out and Limerick can create a sense of festival. The facilities are terrific and we can hold a lot of events in the city centre. This year we are hoping for up to 2,500 participants with 50% from the Shannon region and 50% from around the country. The event is open to teams from the UK and abroad as well and we hope to expand on that aspect in the future."

He added that potential entrants should not be put off by the 'corporate' in the title. "It's a multi-sport festival with 19 different disciplines on the agenda and this will grow. We'd love to put the archery on in King John's Castle and have rowing or fishing events on the river. It's open to anyone who is employed by a business of any size and type as well as sports clubs, organisations commercial and non-commercial and community groups—anyone willing to pull on a shirt for a team is welcome."

Disabled, special needs and semi-professional athletes will also take part in the games as well as family and friends of employees and retirees.

There will be an assortment of levels and sports include ten pin bowling, tug of war, badminton, poker, rugby 7s, running, soccer 6s and dragon boating.