adminDeMbare had their $50 000 prize money forfeited by the mobile phone company after the Glamour boys refused to wear NetOne branded kits during the final against Motor Action which they went on to win 2-1 at the giant National Sports Stadium.
As sponsors, NetOne wanted both teams to wear the kits they provided but Dynamos’ principal sponsors, BancABC would have none of it, insisting that they have the right to front space advertisement and demanded that the Harare giants wear their branded kits instead.
More than a year later, that feud still remains unsolved and Dynamos vice chairman, Webster Chikengezha said yesterday that his team will not be part of the proceedings this year as long as the $50 000 prize money is not paid.
“Our position is still the same, they should give us our money which we sweated for on the field of play. Unless that happens, we are not going to participate in their tournament this year,” said Chikengezha.
On reports that a compromise has been reached with NetOne promising to pay the club, the 2012 league champions vice chairman said as far as they were concerned, they never reached any agreement with the mobile phone operator.
“Maybe they reached that agreement with someone else or PSL but as Dynamos, we have never talked with them,” said Chikengezha.
The trend worldwide is that principal sponsors of clubs take precedence over event sponsors because they are the livelihood of clubs instead of one-off paymasters.
Event sponsors usually take up the back space just on top of the jersey number or the sleeve. Some few years back, Econet pulled out of the league sponsorship after clashing with NetOne, who were sponsoring Caps United.
NetOne were arguing, and rightly so, that as main sponsors of Caps United, they had to take the bigger shirt space and could not pull out of their agreement with Makepekepe.
In the Barclays Premiership in England, Liverpool Football Club is sponsored by Standard Charted bank despite the league being sponsored by a rival in the field.
Dynamos has already snubbed a NetOne function after they did not bother to send a representative during a function to distribute proceeds of the charity match to various organisations last week.
It was at that function that NetOne, through their managing director Reward Kangai announced that an agreement had been reached with Dynamos set to get a token of appreciation. That position was further buttressed by the league president, Twine Phiri.
This year the Charity Shield will see football fans deciding who will participate in the tournament by choosing their favourite teams through an sms voting system.
The top four teams will go through to the semi-finals and eventually the final at a venue that will be determined by the identity of the finalists.
Online Reporter