While fans credit Miscellaneous Football Club’s impressive league campaign on the eleven men on the field, the clubs Chairman Seiphetho Sefhako chalks it up to the support from Botswana Life Insurance Limited (BLIL).
The sponsor at times has had to bend over backwards for Miscellaneous: they agreed to convert part of the technical sponsorship to players’ salary ensuring that morale was kept high in the locker room
Following the sudden suspension of the Botswana Premier League (BPL) monthly grants, the Serowe based outfit could not raise money to pay players salaries. The local insurance giant came to ‘Tse Nala’s rescue agreeing to convert the residual funds from the technical sponsorship to players’ salaries. “If you recall, when the season started, BLIL partnered with us for a season as our technical sponsors in a deal worth P250 000. They then gave us P125 000 which went towards buying equipment as well as replica for the players. This included among other football boots and trainers,” Miscellaneous Chairman explained. He said as such, from the moment the season started in August until December, the team never struggled much as the management could focus only on player’s salaries without worrying about other team’s necessities like replicas. However, as with other teams, from January, things got tough for Miscellaneous as the BPL monthly grants they had relied on was halted following some problems at the BPL Secretariat. “We then approached BLIL and pleaded with them to convert the remaining money from our technical sponsorship to players’ salaries. Luckily, they ceded to our request, something which we are very thankful for,” the Miscellaneous Chairman explained.
While the total amount of the sponsorship may seem small for some, Sefhako said as a community based team, they cannot quantify the value of the BLIL partnership. “If it were not for BLIL support, we could not have achieved the feat we achieved in the league this season. They believed in us as a team that had just come from the first division and agreed to be our partners despite the fact that there was no guarantee we would be as successful as we have been this season. For us, that is as good a value as it can be,” Sefhako explained. However, with the partnership coming to an end this month and the partnership with BLIL likely to be on the menu when the team holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 4th of June next month, the Miscellaneous Chairman has expressed hope that the two parties can come to another mutual agreement to forge another relationship. For their part, BLIL, through its Head of Individual Life Moletlanyi Tshosa, said in view of the challenges the team faced in generating funds to keep afloat, they felt obliged to divert some of their technical sponsorship towards players’ salaries. “We felt that it was our duty as a responsible sponsor to ensure that the welfare of players is taken care off so that they remain motivated,” Tshosa said.
The BLIL Head of Individual Life also expressed pride at the achievements of Miscellaneous this season, saying as a company, BLIL had a ‘rewarding venture’ with Miscellaneous, something which is epitomised by the team making the top eight in the BPL league.
