Alois Bunjira
27 February 2005
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Johannesburg — THERE was a thriller here last weekend. Tinashe Nengomashe's Kaiser Chiefs beat Sundowns' 4-3 in a thrilling encounter. This can go down as the game-of-the-season.
Esrom Nyandoro had a very quiet game but Nengomashe was in top gear. Peter Ndlovu didn't play because of his knee injury. That man again! Collins Mbesuma from Zambia scored a hat trick for Chiefs. Now he is on 23 goals for the season. Wilfred Mugeyi promised the man R1 000 should he score the promised 40 goals. Mugeyi himself scored for Ajax when they beat Arrows 2-0.
Norman Mapeza played in defence and he got a yellow card for a crude tackle. Moroka Swallows drew 0-0 with Supersport. Edzai Kasinauyo, Alois Ngwerume and Innocent Chikoya played but Bhekithemba Ndlovu was on the bench. Zvenyika Makonese's Santos are also now in deep trouble. They lost 2-1 to Ajax on Wednesday and are second from the bottom above Bush Bucks. Bucks drew 1-1 with Richard Choruma's Bloemfontein Celtic. All the Zimbabweans at Bush Bucks played except Tauya Mrewa.
On Friday, we struggled to beat a Third Division side called Juventus 2-0 in the ABSA cup first round. I played the full game. Charles Yohane is still injured. Elasto Lungu was on the bench but Stewart Murisa was not in the team. He might be on his was to Zulu Royals or Vietnam next season.
A lot of you have been asking about football sponsorship in South Africa. I heard Econet Wireless, through their Buddie brand, have poured in a lot of money to sponsor the Zim league.
This is a great contribution. We all applaud that. Here the PSL has got a lot of sponsors like Castle, Vodacom to name just a few. Castle sponsors the league and the winners go home with a cool R2million. Also the South African Broadcasting Corporation pay a lot of money to cover games. Supersport do the same to cover Wednesday games. This is where the PSL get the bulk of the money to pay each club a grant of R350 000 every month. This money covers all the travelling costs and allowances and to some extent, salaries. The PSL has also a deal with South African Airways to allow clubs to pay less when they travel to games. PSL has a similar deal with Holiday Inn Garden Court Hotels for reduced accommodation cost for its clubs. In addition, clubs find their own sponsors who pump in a lot of money. For instance Vodacom gives Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates R25million each every year. Standard Bank does the same to the two clubs. Nissan gives them cars. In return, the clubs display the company's logos on their jerseys or on billboards in the stadium during games. Some clubs get accommodation and transport sponsorship as well. It doesn't necessarily mean though clubs should adopt the sponsoring company's name like Vodacom Kaiser Chiefs, for example. The South Africa Football Association has a lot of sponsors also. Besides that, they would be surviving on the yearly grant from Fifa since they don't have money-generating activities besides national team games.
All national teams have individual sponsors.The U12s and U17s are sponsored by Danone, U-20s by Vodacom, U-23s by Sasol, Banyana by Sanlam and Bafana are sponsored by Vodacom and Castle. Adidas is the kit sponsor for all the national teams.
So in general we can see the game cannot survive without the corporate world. They are the backbone of a successful professional league. By pouring in money, they are also promoting their brands to the masses as football is the most popular sport in world.
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