Boteti Football Welcomes Windfall
Koketso Kgoboge | Monday August 19, 2019 13:56
The league will also have P 15, 000 prize money for the champions while the sponsorship will also take care of payments and transportation of referees.
Lucara General Manager, Johane Mchive said the sponsorship was one of their many ways to provide platforms of creating a self-sustainable community in Boteti.
He also said expectations were that the investment would attract more youth and improve sports development in the region.
In his address Mchive quoted the late former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela saying, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in away that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair.”
Team representatives welcomed the sponsorship. Chilisa Tumelo of Desert Buffaloes believes the days of abandonment of matches due to clash of kits and lack of referees would be a thing of the past.
“This is a huge development for lower league football. We have suffered a lot, yet we are the feeder teams. Our shoestring budgets are constantly affected by unnecessary abandonment of matches. We hope we will run with fewer troubles these two seasons,” he said.
Zowa United team manager, Oneetse Dingalo said Lucara’s gesture might be the turning point of regional football leagues.
“We appreciate Lucara. We believe our league will be interesting competitively and hopefully the packaging as well. It has been hard to find sponsors in our lower leagues, hopefully, they will come along.”
Mahutsana Bogotso of Perisa Football Club encouraged the regional leadership to display good governance and be accountable. He said the region suffered when they lost teams to the formation of Orapa United.
“We are optimistic this will cultivate competition again and football will come alive in Boteti. We will embrace this development, and we promise to demonstrate the highest possible competition and fair play.”
BFA President, Maclean Letshwiti, who also graced the sponsorship launch, expressed gratitude to Lucara for the gesture. He encouraged the regional leadership to handle the sponsorship with openness and integrity.
“Lucara has put a smile on a young boy and girl from a humble village of Rakops. It should be a worthy course for Lucara and the nation. They would appreciate seeing that young boy and girl hoisting the national flag in future,” he said noting that would be the return on investment the mining company would expect from the BFA.