UPG UK & Ireland and Mahle renew Wheatley Hills RUFC shirt deal

UPG UK & Ireland and Mahle have renewed their joint shirt sponsorship of Wheatley Hills Rugby Union Club’s second team for a second consecutive season, showing a distributor and a manufacturer carrying an existing trade relationship onto one shirt in community sport. Branding from both automotive aftermarket companies will appear on the second team’s shirts throughout the current campaign, helping the club provide sports and development opportunities for players of all ages.

UPG UK & Ireland is a truck and engine parts distributor based in Castleford, West Yorkshire, formerly Imexpart, which was founded in 1986 and is now owned by South Africa’s Universal Parts Group. It holds more than 15,000 active product lines across its UK depots.

Mahle is a Stuttgart-based automotive supplier founded in 1920, which reported 2025 sales of €11.3 billion and employs 64,242 people. It is 99.9% owned by the non-profit Mahle Foundation.

Wheatley Hills Rugby Union Club is a community rugby club based on Brunel Road in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

Martin Butterworth, managing director of UPG UK & Ireland, who has played for the club for more than 30 years, said the club means a great deal to him personally, and that two companies working together to support community rugby sends a positive message about opportunities for players of all ages.

Andy Lees of Mahle said clubs such as Wheatley Hills depend on the commitment of their players, volunteers and supporters, and that Mahle is pleased to play a part in that collective effort through its sponsorship of the second team.

The joint shirt reflects a commercial relationship that already runs through the supply chain: UPG UK & Ireland ran a Mahle Week in February with a 10 per cent discount across the Mahle range for motor factors, according to Tyrepress.

UPG UK & Ireland took its current name when Imexpart rebranded in 2025, two years after its acquisition by Universal Parts Group, according to Autotrade.ie, so the renewal carries the new identity into a second season of community sponsorship.

For the sector, the renewal shows aftermarket suppliers pairing a distributor and a manufacturer on one shirt to carry an existing trade relationship into community sport.

Source: Tyrepress / Autotrade.ie / Mahle / Universal Parts Group