Mokoena laments Free State Stars’ lack of sponsorship

FREE State Stars general manager Rantsi Mokoena has slammed the corporate leaders of big companies in South Africa who, he says, do not understand the value of sponsoring football clubs.

Stars lost medical aid company Bonitas as a sponsor three years ago‚ and the family-run club was put up for sale as a result of the R12-million added annual financial burden that produced.

Ea Lla Koto, who finished sixth in the Premier Soccer League this season‚ are not the only club in the league who survive without a major shirt sponsor.

Their opponents in Saturday evening’s Nedbank Cup final at the Cape Town Stadium – Maritzburg United‚ who finished fourth – have sustained themselves as a top-flight club without a shirt sponsorship for 12 seasons.

Mokoena said he had a political view on why football clubs were “not as well sponsored as rugby and cricket [franchises] are”.

“I think we simply do not have representation in the boardroom as black people.

“And football is seen to be a black sport‚ or consumed by the majority of SA’s population‚ which is black.

“When you drive past [Bethlehem’s] Voortrekker Hoërskool you will find that it’s got about five different boards of five different companies sponsoring the school.

“And if you go to Ntsu High School here in the township‚ there are zero.”

Lamontville Golden Arrows and Platinum Stars are two other PSL teams without shirt sponsorships.

Statistics show that returns to companies from football sponsorships dwarf those of other major sports in South Africa.

Do football clubs take these statistics with them when making pitches?

Or do they outsource to branding companies with connections in industry?

“When you talk about sponsorships‚ Rantsi Mokoena does not have the confidence to go before serious boardroom people and speak English‚ and want their money‚” Mokoena said. “So we outsource these kinds of things.

“But does it make sense to you that a certain company that sells food‚ which is consumed largely by our people‚ is not in football?

“Does it make sense to you that a company that sells automobiles is sponsoring a rugby team in this province [the Free State]‚ and is not in football? And [if] you go to the taxi rank‚ you tell me what taxi you’re going to ride in.”

Mokoena was obviously referring to Toyota‚ naming sponsor of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs rugby team. – TimesLIVE