The Shirt That Won the Shield
The 10bet Lions started 2025/26 with nothing on the front of the jersey. On 27 February 2026 that changed. The next afternoon, wearing Fidelity SecureDrive for the first time, they beat the Stormers and won the South African Shield.
The 10bet Lions started 2025/26 with nothing on the front of the jersey. On 27 February 2026 that changed. The next afternoon, wearing Fidelity SecureDrive for the first time, they beat the Stormers and won the South African Shield.
THE GAP. Emirates ended its ten-year sponsorship of the Johannesburg franchise at the end of June 2025, having told the club the previous year that it would not renew. The 10bet Lions went into the 2025/26 Vodacom United Rugby Championship without a team title sponsor. The Currie Cup side kept its long-standing partner: the Fidelity ADT Lions.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT. On Friday 27 February 2026 the Lions Rugby Company named Fidelity SecureDrive, part of Fidelity Services Group, as official team sponsor of the senior side for the rest of the season. The team would play as the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions, with the logo on the front of the jersey, starting immediately.
THE DEBUT. Immediately meant the next day. The new shirt's first outing was Round 12 at Ellis Park against the DHL Stormers, with the South African Shield still live. The 10bet Lions led 14-0 inside twenty minutes through Siba Mahashe and Henco van Wyk, won 24-10, and took the Shield for the first time in the club's history. Few sponsorships have opened with a trophy.
THE RUN-IN. The rest of the league season was played in the same shirt. Edinburgh, Dragons, Glasgow Warriors and Connacht were all beaten at Ellis Park, Glasgow by 42 points, and the 10bet Lions finished seventh to reach a first URC quarter-final and a first Investec Champions Cup.
WHAT THEY SAID. Wahl Bartmann, Group CEO of Fidelity Services Group and a former Transvaal flanker, said rugby stood for the same values as the company: "resilience under pressure, teamwork, and pride in performance." Rudolf Straeuli, CEO of the Lions Rugby Company, called having Fidelity on the front of the jersey "a proud moment for the franchise" and "a significant step in strengthening our brand and building long-term stability for the team."
WHY IT MATTERS. A front-of-shirt sponsor is the largest single commercial deal a franchise signs. Going without one for half a season is a cost the supporters never see. Finding one in February, mid-season, and winning silverware in its first match, is the side of the 2025/26 story that happened away from the pitch.
Partnering with the 10bet Lions is a natural extension of who we are as a proudly South African organisation. — Wahl Bartmann, Group CEO, Fidelity Services Group
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