The two firms have become official partners of British Handball with the logos of Collins Stewart Wealth Management and Pinsent Masons now set to appear on the Great Britain men's and women's handball teams shirts in all competitions and training matches in the build-up to the Olympics.

In addition to the sponsorship, Collins Stewart Wealth Management has also launched an initiative which will see the company donating £10 ($16/€12) for every goal scored by the men's and women's teams in the run up to the Olympics in August to a fund designed to assist the players who are making big sacrifices to compete on the global stage.

"We are thrilled that the sport has attracted two high profile, award-winning companies as major partners," said British Handball chief executive Paul Goodwin (pictured above second from right).

"It demonstrates that British Handball is in a strong position in the build-up to the Olympics and we look forward to working closely with Collins Stewart Wealth Management and Pinsent Masons throughout the year to further develop the popularity of the sport into the future."

The sponsorship will provide a boost to British Handball's plans to make the sport more popular in Britain.

Handball is already one of the fastest growing sports in the country following its inclusion in the Change 4 Life programme, which has seen the sport introduced in more than 400 schools across the country.

As a result of this, handball has seen a six-fold increase in the number of young people being introduced to the sport.


"Handball is an exciting and dynamic sport to watch, and has great potential to grow in popularity throughout this Olympic year," said Neil Darke (pictured second from left), chief executive of Collins Stewart Wealth Management.

"We look forward to working alongside Pinsent Masons and the talented team at British Handball, to support the athletes who work so hard to help raise the sport's profile in the UK, particularly during this exciting year."

"We were attracted to British Handball as an organisation as, despite the sport being relatively unknown, their approach to building the game's familiarity chimed with us.

"We were also very pleased as an anchor partner, to help bring Pinsent Masons to the partnership.

"Like Collins Stewart Wealth Management, Pinsent Masons' business is built around its clients, which has given us a shared vision when looking to get involved with a sports organisation."

Trevor Watkins, the head of sport and a partner at Pinsent Masons, also expressed his delight with the deal.

"The sports sector is a key part of our firm's business," he said.

"We are delighted to take this opportunity to invest back into sport and make a real difference in doing so.

"It gives our staff across all of our offices a tremendous opportunity to be part of the GB Handball journey as the teams prepare for what will be one of the greatest sporting events in this country in our lifetime and to play their part by volunteering, supporting and helping to create a strong foundation for the sport beyond 2012."

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