17 Apr 2013

Ecco City Greens supporters have vowed to intensify fund raising activities, in an attempt to keep their team afloat after the pull out of Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) sponsorship,

This strategy, they said, had worked for them in the past especially in 2006/2007 season when they were crowned league champions. They explained that back then, they used to target people in busy areas such as malls, taxi and bus ranks where they displayed and sold team merchandise and tickets for their home games.

They were now engaged in negotiations to find a partner who could assist the team financially while they explored self-help fund raising activities. They also highlighted that they had secured a technical sponsor, Umbro and were confident about the future.

In an interview, Lesole Mazongo, a supporter, affirmed their intentions and said that they would not wait for good samaritans to come their way, but instead were going around to find the right partners who could assist in sustaining their team.

Mazongo said their team’s performance had never disappointed as they have always managed a top four position. This, he added, would be an added advantage when they negotiate with potential sponsors as they would convince them to associate with a viable brand in Ecco City Greens.

He said although it was tough to secure sponsorship since companies were reluctant to sponsor teams because of issues surrounding the administration of football in the country, supporters were eager to see their team remaining as one of the forces to be reckoned with in the local league.

Mazongo also said they were going to recruit more supporters particularly in their hometown and its surrounding areas to buy the replica shirts for the team and urge them to attend games in large numbers.

He also appealed to the premier league to reconsider the arrangement of having cup competitions launched and played in Gaborone only saying that this disadvantaged them.

“Teams should be given equal opportunities to have competitions played at different grounds around the country not to have some clubs, particularly northern teams, being advantaged at the expense of others” he stressed.

He said if such games were brought to Francistown, local teams would also benefit from high attendance encouraged by marketing of the games by the premier league as well as the teams.

Another supporter, Leaver Kelebetse who said he was part of the supporters committee mentioned that they were going to intensify the sale of team merchandise ranging from t-shirts, car stickers and branded vuvuzelas so that they could be identified by the colours.

Kelebetse also said they wanted to revive the sale of food and refreshments during their home games and come up with arrangements for attendance of away games.

He applauded their management for informing them about the decision taken by BMC to pull out of sponsoring their team and soliciting ideas from supporters. ENDS