ENGLISH rugby club Harlequins, have entered into a three yearn corporate partnership with NEC, the giant Japanese electronics firm, worth around £1.5 million which, from next season, will rechristen them NEC Harlequins of London.

NEC's money will go a considerable way towards funding the player contracts that are being" drawn up ready for the end of the English union's moratorium in May, leaving Roger Looker, the club's chairman, to suggest Harlequins would be "highly competitive in the terms that will be offered to our players".

More in keeping with Harlequin tradition, yesterday's announcement took place at the Savoy Hotel in London, with a goodly turn out of players though not the England captain Will Carling present to hear the personally felicitous news.

Coaching director Dick Best said that the deal gives the club ample scope for scooping up available talent in rugby's transfer market. "The money compares with the sums available to Newcastle and Saracens," said Best. "We are on a par with them. This is the first step towards funding the whole professional side of the club."