National Sports

Kuku sponsorship shifted to next season

Production is picking up: Jussab
Production is picking up: Jussab

Teams that bade for the K20 million Kuku Matches sponsorship about a year ago will have to wait a little longer as matches manufacturers Euro Industries have shifted the period for choosing a successful team to next season.

Bidders will also need to write new sponsorship proposals because the old bids have been declared invalid, the company’s managing director Hassam Jussab has revealed.

The development has irked Big Bullets chairperson Malinda Chinyama and Blantyre United administrator Lawson Nakoma whose teams applied for the financial support.

“These people are jokers. They just want to test our emotions and make a name in football,” Chinyama, whose side recently lost Carlsberg Malawi sponsorship, summarised his frustration at the latest development.

On the other hand, Nakoma said his team will not reapply, arguing the prospective sponsor is indecisive and is just another “time-waster”.

But Mighty Wanderers FC general secretary David Kanyenda and Mzuzu United deputy team manager George Sumaili said they would soon discuss at their respective clubs whether to resubmit bids.

Months after the company called for bids through Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) radio adverts in 2012, only Blantyre United applied and prior to that, Bullets claim they had discussions with Euro Industries on the possibility of sponsoring the People’s Team.

The company stated that it would choose its favourite team for sponsorship which was supposed to start in the 2013/14 season.

Jussab said they could not sponsor a team this season because production at his company stalled for six months as they were moving from their old premises at Makata Industrial Area to their new place at Maone in Blantyre. He denied that his company had sponsorship discussions with Bullets

“Our production is now picking up. We guarantee to sponsor a team at the start of next season. But we will need new bids from the interested teams. The old proposals do not tally with the current business ideas.

“We are looking for a disciplined and performing team that can give us a platform to market our products. The teams can start making their bids now,” Jussab said.

But Chinyama and Nakoma said it is unfair for the company to continue traumatising the clubs and giving them false hopes, especially at this stage when most of the 15 Super League clubs have no corporate sponsorship.

Nakoma, whose team presented a 13-page proposal to the company last year and promised total accountability and the promotion of the Kuku brand through good performance and discipline, concurred with Chinyama, saying they held several meetings with the company concerning sponsorship which yielded nothing.

“We have lost our interest in their sponsorship and we will not write another proposal. They called us three times for meetings that only tortured us mentally. We have had enough. It is better to live peacefully with our poverty than to have a colourful dream that does not come to pass,” said Nakoma, whose team’s bid was pegged at K22 million.

Chinyama claimed that at one of their meetings with Euro Industries management, the company came up with some ‘funny’ demands for the club to fulfill and he said it came to their attention the firm only wanted cheap publicity.

“We know how they treated us; we never want to go back to them. They told us that, before they could support us, we first had to publicise on the radio for some months that we were in their fold.

“Worse still, they said we should be selling cartons of their matches for months and get K10 from the proceeds of each carton. We felt that was too much for us. Let the other teams try their luck, but we are out of that,” Chinyama said.

Football analyst Charles Nyirenda accused local clubs of expecting easy financial support from the corporate world and lacking marketing strategies to attract sponsors.

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