Gunners receive Umbro cash boost
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Friday June 5, 2020 11:05
The two parties entered into a five-year agreement in February. Gunners have since received the package from their new sponsors, which include playing kit, travelling kit as well as tracksuits for players and technical teams.
According to the club chairperson, George Kerekang, they have collected 500 t-shirts from Umbro that will be sold to supporters at P450 each.
He said the club will partly benefit from the sale of 250 replicas while the 100% of the income from the sale of the other 250 t-shirts (P112,500) would go straight into the club’s coffers.
“The deal would go a long way in plugging the club’s financial gaps, which have been troubling the BTC Premiership side for years. “This will definitely give us a boost,” Kerekang said.
According to the club, the sale of merchandise would only be done through the supporters’ branches.
The chairpersons of the branches have also been tasked with using the opportunity of selling replicas to mobilise supporters into renewing their memberships while also bringing new potential members.
Gunners have not had a stable technical sponsorship since they parted ways with local brand, All Kasi a few years ago.
For years, they have been on the wrong side of the law regarding payment of salaries. They have already faced the wrath of authorities over flouting Club Licencing regulations and lost six points at the start of the season over failure to pay salaries.
Although not enough, the financial gains from the Umbro deal is expected to improve the bottom line.
Recently, the club received another boost when Member of Parliament for Lobatse, Thapelo Matsheka mobilised companies to donate food hampers to the team.
The players and the technical team will also benefit from the government’s COVID-19 relief fund.