English Premier League club Manchester City are set to give one Co Clare business a major boost.
Noel Marshall is the inventor of the BackBaller, a dual mounted foam roller that’s back specific. The Shannon based business has received its most high profile sale with members of the Manchester City F.C. strength and conditioning and medical departments putting in orders for the product.
To date rugby players such as Jonathan Sexton, Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls and Ian Madigan have got their hands on the BackBaller along with Irish footballer Shane Long and a host of high profile GAA players across the country.
Manchester City are the first Premier League club to commit to purchasing an order. They initially have requested six BackBallers and will then evaluate. It is anticipated that they will then ensure all players in the club are supplied with the equipment which will result in the biggest order for the Shannon business since they were founded in 2016.
Speaking exclusively to The Clare Herald, inventor Noel Marshall outlined what the next possible step is. “The head of strength and conditioning I gather is the guy who requested the order be put in, the idea is they’re going to evaluate with these six and their idea then would be to get one for every single player in every single squad from Sergio Aguero right down to their academy players. They’re talking about if they like it they’ll be ordering three hundred”.
He labelled it as a “big development” for the local business. It is hoped this will subsequently lead to more premier league clubs putting in similar orders. Significant steps like this are a sign of the where this business can go according to the man known as Bricky.
“I felt early days I was going to sell a million units, I just knew because it was such a simple effective thing, if we got the marketing right we could really make traction with this. Now it’s easy saying it, turning it into a reality is another thing but it’s really kicked off beyond my expectations and that order really cements the belief that this was going to grow into a monster in terms of unit sales and where we can go as a company with this”.
It gets the New Year off to an incredible start for the BackBaller with an excellent first year in business recorded in 2016. Its place on the national market has been well established and now this “big development” can open the international door.