BFA entered into a written agreement with the Trust for use of the association's affiliates which also include Premier League teams in the event while at the same time, the Premier League Committee (PLC), a BFA baby, entered into an agreement with the league sponsors, be MOBILE which bars any Premier League team from participating in any event organised by its competitors, Orange and Mascom. The league sponsors have in their agreement with the PLC promised to stage their own charity tournament. Although Kabelano Trust chairperson Terrence Dambe did not want to say whether they intended to sue, he did mention that the legal route would be one of the options. He also pointed out that they still believe that negotiations can continue with both the BFA and the Premier League.
Dambe also told journalists at a media briefing on Wednesday that since the inception of the event, permission for the teams to participate has always been sought from the BFA. "Over the years, we have built a good relationship with the BFA such that we would inform them every year of which teams we would like to participate in a given event. In return, we would pledge funds to the association to be used for youth development. We would then negotiate with the teams to reach [an] agreement regarding their participation," he said. Dambe explained that in 2007, in recognition of the creation of the Premier League as a structure of the BFA and as a matter of courtesy, they decided to have discussions with the league regarding participation of the Premier League teams in the annual event. He added that after various discussions with the PLC, it was then brought to their attention by BFA that the approach they had adopted in discussing participation with PLC was irregular. "We were advised that the proper procedure was for us to approach the association for permission to use any of its affiliates (including the Premier League teams) as we had done in the past," he added. This, he went on, prompted BFA to express the desire to formalise the relationship with Kabelano by entering into a fixed three-year contract signed in January 2008. The contract, he said, provided no restrictions on which affiliates they could approach to participate and therefore, naturally and by clear custom, affiliates included Premier League teams.
