tawandamusarurwa
Arthur Choga
EVER since I started following football, I have known about Chegutu Pirates.
I knew them from the black and white pages of The Herald in the 1980s, when the Division One log was published once a week.
Chegutu Pirates would be there alongside their rivals, some of which are now defunct.
I would read about Lulu Rovers, Suri Suri, Jumbo Giants, Proton Stars, Redwing Mine, Blanket Mine, Hippo Valley, Rufaro Rovers, Elvington Mine, Boronia Farm, Smirnoff Tigers, and many others.
I would read about players like Jonah Tasanangurwa, Austin Chapani, Gipter Raiva playing in football grounds like Tsungubvi, Rudhaka, Chipadze, Pfupajena, Chikonohono, Cam and Motor and Vengere.
You can imagine my excitement when Chegutu Pirates made it into the Premier Soccer League (PSL) this season.
It was a dream that many fans from smaller communities like Marondera, Chipinge, Shangani, Chinhoyi and Lupane have always cherished.
Kadoma, Mhangura, Hwange, Bindura, Kariba and Zvishavane boast top-flight bragging rights, with teams from their areas having made it into the top league.
Chegutu Pirates was formed in 1963 (the same year as Dynamos).
The club was first called Hartley Hunters, after Chegutu’s colonial-era name.
It rebranded to Chegutu Pirates in 1981.
Chegutu Pirates are a brand, and they have a wonderful back story, one which should be a marketing dream come true.
They come from a passionate community, and they bring a different vibe to the sport with a vibrant cultural mix that includes myth and folklore, ‘nyau’ dancers, miners, schools, farms and recreational operations.
It was interesting that the biggest recent story about them was of the team walking onto the field in a kit consisting of tops and shorts from different kit manufacturers after a clash of colours with their opponents.
My thoughts on this were that Chegutu Pirates really do not have any obligation to wear any particular brand if it is not paying anything.
There are many apparel manufacturers who can build brands around Chegutu.
It is a town with a rich history and abundant social attractions.
There is scope for commercial value in partnering with a community like this.
It is a community that loves its team so much that getting buy-in on reducing “pirated” versions (excuse the pun) of their kits and supporting the club’s commercial ventures is achievable.
Football clubs do not make most of their revenue from gate-takings.
This is more apparent in Zimbabwe, where clubs travel long distances to play a home game, and then have to cover travel, accommodation and ground rental fees.
I always like to give the example of the marketing clarity that surrounded the Bulawayo Chiefs FC model, including the project they have built around their name and uniqueness.
A club like Manchester City, for example, (I use them because they are very popular locally) has 46 partners, according to Sportical.com.
Their their top five partners accounted for 70 percent of the club’s total income from sponsorship.
According to GlobalData’s report, the highest-spending sponsor brands include Puma, Etihad Airways, OKX and Asahi Super Dry, among others.
Only Etihad get to make it to the front of the shirt for match-day kits, while Japanese brewer Asahi Super Dry sponsors the warm-up kits.
Football clubs are a valuable marketing vehicle.
In terms of technical partnership, Adidas pays about US$114 million a season to Manchester United, while Puma pays around US$82 million to Manchester City each season for the clubs to wear their kit.
Technical kit sponsorships are a major issue and at one stage New Balance even took Nike to court over the right to be Liverpool’s kit partner for US$101 million per season.
Closer to home, South African clubs host kit partnership launches each season.
Locally, we have seen some launches, although details of the partnerships remain undisclosed, so I will go off on a limb here.
The names of kit manufactures have absolutely no commercial value to Chegutu Pirates in the absence of defined agreements.
The PSL debutants could have sailed on to the pitch in unbranded white t-shirts, if they so wished.
Chegutu Pirates walked into a shop and bought these kits, and media management teams at Nike and Adidas must have spent the morning looking up Chegutu on a map, as their names kept being mentioned in relation to Chegutu Pirates.
Too often, clubs want to have one magic bullet partner who will pay salaries, cover transport costs and buy the kit, when these costs could be broken down and shared with different partners.
After the story broke, a former player came through and offered playing kits to Chegutu Pirates.
This is commendable.
Now the community can and should continue to step in with partnerships, like match-day meals, bottled water and other partnerships that will keep the club going and promoting the name of the town.
Our communities are not as big as those that support Manchester City, but they are just as passionate, if not more.
What better way to show it than by putting the support into a vehicle that is already sailing around the country, bearing the name of the town they love.
Chegutu Pirates may have just sailed into a big marketing opportunity.
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Online Reporter