It never rains but pours for Botswana Football Association (BFA) who have suffered another setback as the league sponsor beMOBILE has decided to pull out of the controversial play off between Township Rollers and Mochidi Centre Chiefs citing a breach of the sponsorship agreement BTCL/BFA001/2014-15.
In a letter leaked to Sunday Standard Sports, the elite league sponsors has pulled out of the championship playoffs match between Mochudi Centre Chiefs and Township Rollers slated for July 23rd at Francistown Sports Complex.
‘’BTCL shall not participate in the trophy handing and medal awards ceremony during the deciding playoffs match between Township Rollers and Mochudi Centre Chiefs. BTCL takes this path to protect its brand and avoid suffering further reputational damage,” the letter read. In this case, BTCL has pointed out that they have engaged in the handing over when Chiefs was awarded the prize after the last game of the season that was played in Jwaneng.
‘’The game will be played without the sponsor’s blessings, they don’t want anything to do with the playoff match, be MOBILE has long been patient but the sponsor feels BFA is failing to put its house in order ” a source told Sunday Standard.
‘’Just by the way of an example, on the last day of the season beMOBILE was instructed to crown Mochudi Centre Chiefs champions. This, the be MOBILE did and proceeded to hand over the trophy to Mochudi Centre Chiefs only to be later advised that the log had been suspended and that no decision had been made on the championship pending the ruling by the premier league’s disciplinary committed. This caused embarrassment and tarnished the sponsor’s brand and reputation,” stated the letter.
In terms of clause 8.2 of the contractual agreement between the parties, it is said any breach committed should be remedied within 7 days of receipt of notice. However, BTCL had instructed the BFA to remedy the breach by 30th June 2016. ‘’It is BTCL’s considered view that BFA has committed an act amounting to default or misconduct as contemplated by clause 8.2.1 of the agreement and as a result the business name and or reputation has been affected negatively,” read the letter.
BFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kitso Kemoeng confirmed that they have received the letter and are worried and concerned as much as the sponsor. ‘’It is a fact that we are in an abnormal environment, concern raised by the sponsor need to be rectified and we continue to engage them and liaise on some matters that need to be corrected,” said Kemoeng.
Speaking about parameter advertising, Kemoeng told Sunday Standard that ‘’we will cross the bridge when we get there, we have to respect the sponsor’s position on issues but we are engaging clubs about logistics that comes along with the deciding match”.
