Sponsorship will open doors for St Catherine FA – Reid
Peter Reid was almost emotional as he spoke about the heyday of the St Catherine Football Association, which he has led for the last 12 years after succeeding Lincoln ‘Happy’ Sutherland, under whom he served as vice-president for 22 years.
However, he lamented the “geographical box” into which the FA falls because of its proximity to its Kingston and St Andrew cousin, unable to woo sponsors until McKay Security and Alliance MoneyGram stepped up to the plate recently with a $3 million deal.
“One of the issues we have had marketing the product is that the St Catherine FA is close to Kingston, and the sponsors generally want to go into that metropolitan area, which starts from Bull Bay in the east and extends to as far as Portmore, which, though in St Catherine, is almost an extension of Kingston,” Reid explained.
“They use that as one geographical area for marketing. We have had to work hard to get sponsorship. This new sponsorship with McKay Security and Alliance MoneyGram will hopefully open the doors at which we have been knocking,” Reid said.
Since McKay Security and Alliance MoneyGram came along with their $3-million sponsorship of the Major League and Lincoln ‘Happy’ Sutherland Knockout this season, Reid has been like the protective parent of the two-year deal.
“The clubs are very appreciative of the sponsorship. They understand sponsorship is something you don’t take for granted. They’re trying their best to satisfy the requirements, especially discipline, which is the hallmark of our football. They know sponsors like to be associated with disciplined teams and clubs.
“I would like to say a big thank you to Jason McKay and Peter Chin of Alliance MoneyGram, who have come on board as joint sponsors,” Reid emphasised.
“For the better part of seven years, we didn’t get any sponsorship, but we, the clubs and FA, knew we had to make sacrifices. The FA would help with referees’ fees, and the clubs would get their own gear and cover travelling.
“LIME came on board in 2010. They saw Portmore and Spanish Town as a big market and stayed for around four years before gradually backing out,” Reid pointed out.
However, Alliance MoneyGram’s Chin is looking to strengthen its new alliance with the St Catherine FA.
“St Catherine football will help to promote the brand in the parish, especially Spanish Town and Portmore, which has the secondbiggest population size in Jamaica, outside of Kingston,” he said.