... sponsorship for Usutu Zonal League
M– They did not seem to believe it until the replica cheque came out.
This was when Montigny announced a mouthwatering E100 000 sponsorship for the Usutu Zonal League on Thursday to be contested for by 16 teams across six communities on an annual basis. This beats any sponsorship at this level, now or in the past, by a landslide and raises the bar for the sponsorship of regional football.
The announcement was made by Montigny’s Communications Manager, Sihle Mavuso, who said the aim was to resuscitate the spirit of the football game in Usutu. He said E70 000 would be allocated to the league, while E30 000 would be contested by the same teams in a knockout tournament.
Knockout
The league is scheduled to take off mid-November this year, while the knockout tournament will be staged next year half-way through the league season. Speaking during the official announcement of the sponsorship at the company’s Bhunya headquarters, Mavuso said they had noted a free-fall in the standard of the game since the days of Bhunya Black Aces, Usutu Warriors and Mhlambanyatsi Rovers who, at some point, campaigned in the elite level of Eswatini football.
He said in recent years they noted the meteoric rise of both Bhunya Black Aces and Mhlambanyatsi Community FC, but were worried that the Usutu Zonal League, which accommodated the greater Usutu football population, ceased to
Montigny Communications Manager Sihle Mavuso displays a replica cheque of E100 000 as he announces the company’s sponsorship of Usutu Zonal League.
exist.
“Over the years, we have been receiving requests from the various teams for sponsorship, but felt it would not be fair to favour one and leave out the other as this company belongs to all emaSwati,” said Mavuso.
He said what had always been important to them was to support a course that benefits the majority of the people.
“That is why we tasked a committee involving some of the administrators of the sport in Usutu to work on a strategy that would impact the standard of football in Bhunya. We explained that the strategy should aim to revive the spirit of football in the first year, ensuring participation for everyone by keeping the costs of participation low,” added Mavuso.
He said the strategy should aim to develop players that would feed into the giant teams in Usutu.
“To test if the people of Usutu still had passion for the game, we staged a football festival featuring Bhunya Black Aces and Mhlambanyatsi Rovers during this year’s Easter Weekend,” he said.
He said they were were convinced that the love of the game was still very much alive in Usutu.
“This is why we have decided to go ahead with our plans, which start with the launch of the E100 000 Usutu Zonal League sponsorship today,” he said.
This announcement invited great excitement from team representatives, who clapped and sang the company’s praises. Mavuso explained that the company shared the people’s passion, and if teams behaved well and avoided any form of mischief that would bring the name of the game and that of the company into disrepute, the sponsorship would increase every year.