BONA fights to get sponsorship for netball league

Leornard Matota | Monday March 17, 2014 12:27

 

Speaking at the BONA Annual General Meeting (AGM) over the weekend in Palapye, the association’s president, Tebogo Lebotse, said they are working hard to get a sponsor and urged clubs to continue training in the meantime. “We don’t have a league sponsor this year but that doesn’t mean tournaments and competitions should not be there. Are we saying netball will die because of no sponsors, potential sponsors should see that we are trying on our own,” she said.

Lebotse advised teams to invest in development before the league starts so that they try and close the gap caused when teachers absconded from sports activities in schools. She said at the moment, they are still feeling the pinch as it is still evident that players lack basics skills such as catching the ball and stepping.  “Those who haven’t started training, remember that besides the league, we have national teams who have games this year, and we need to prepare for them. We need to start selections for those teams but we will need fit players because youth games and Africa championships are coming up,” she explained.

However, affiliates took a swipe at the BONA officials telling them to stop criticising each other and the rest of the netballing family in public forums such as the associations’ Facebook page.  They said official have a tendency to castigate each other on the page, a development which might not look good to people who are interested in investing in the game. “Our Facebook page is a brand driving force not a battle field, therefore should not be used for such unbecoming behaviour. People would not want to be associated with us given what they see on our FB page as a marketing tool. Maybe that is why we don’t have sponsors for now because such tools market us silently,” said Kealeboga Ramogobya of UB Crystals.

Besides the national league, BONA has not secured a sponsor  for the national teams. Last year, Spar gave BONA P400,000 and coaching kits for all the teams in the league. The company gave five training balls, five cones, a set of reversible training bibs and agility ladders. Teams were given P3,000 each from the sponsorship money as grants by BONA for their development programmes and preparation for the league.