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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League has sealed contract extensions with two traditional sponsors and close to clinching agreements with two more potential sponsors for a 16 team tournament and the Super Eight Knockout. Chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele told Chronicle Sport yesterday that Delta Beverages, through their Castle Lager brand, had since extended their relationship with the league while premier knockout tournament sponsors, Mbada Diamonds, had also confirmed their continued marriage with the elite league.
“You can now call the league, the Castle Lager Premiership, it’s official,” said Ndebele, who however could not reveal the finer details of the total package and the length of the new agreement.
“We have always preferred our sponsors to unveil their package at their own convenience, obviously for marketing purposes,” he said.
Sixteen team knockout tournament sponsors, Mbada Diamonds, have also wasted no time in reaffirming their presence this year, another seal of approval to the Twine Phiri-led league at a time when other sporting organisations are sweating over corporate support.
“Mbada Diamonds will be with us again this year while we are still tying a few loose ends with prospective sponsors for the Super Eight and another 16 team tournament. We are really excited about the development,” said Ndebele.
Banking institution, BancABC, pulled the plug on the Sup8r tournament saying they were aligning their sponsorship and concentrating on club sponsorship as part of their corporate social responsibility.
With the league starting next weekend, there has been concerns on the branding of the league after Delta Beverages’ three-year contract expired in November last year.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional season opener Charity Shield might not have a sponsor this year although Ndebele chose to be diplomatic about it.
The experienced administrator said while they remained hopeful of a sponsor, the league might have to find ways to assist charitable organisations.
Meanwhile, Ndebele has defended their decision to slash the fines figures by more than 75 percent that saw crowd hooliganism and pitch invasion sanctions going down from $8,000 to at least $2,000. The move was viewed in some sections as “literally promoting hooliganism”.
“We did not see it that way. Our clubs are reeling under serious financial challenges and the board of governors therefore decided to reduce the fines and encourage supporter education. If they invest in that we believe our supporters will eventually be sober and stop the disease. There is no amount of campaigning that we can do or even you the media can do to reduce crowd trouble but clubs can successfully do that, hence the stance,” said Ndebele.
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