Shell Oil Botswana’s longstanding partnership with the Botswana Softball Association (BSA) continued this past week as the oil giants once again sponsored the association to the tune of P600 000 over two years.
The new sponsorship will see the company shell out P300 000 for the 2012 ÔÇô 2013 Shell League and the same amount for the 2013 ÔÇô 2014 season. The sponsorship marks a second successive year that the oil giants have churned out the P300 000 per season to the BSA to run its league, which is now known as the Shell Softball League.
However, unlike in the past season when the sponsorship was for a single season, the Oil giants have now committed to a two seasons’ long sponsorship. As in the past year, the sponsorship will cover both the men and ladies’ leagues.
Under the new sponsorship, P200 000 of the sponsorship will go towards prize monies while at least P100 000 will go towards the league administration, game balls, covering game officials’ expenses and other expenses, including medals. At least P112 000 of the prize monies will go towards the 19-team men’s league while the 13-team women’s league will get P88 000.
The new sponsorship will also see an increment in prize monies awarded to top performing clubs. The men’s champions will walk away with P17 000 while the runners up will go home P15 000 richer, an increment of P2000 and P3000 for the winners and runners up, respectively.
In the ladies’ section, the winner will walk away with P16 000 while the runners up will have to be content with a P13 000 cheque, an increment of P1000 for both the winners and runners up.
Speaking at the launch of the sponsorship, Shell Oil Botswana’s Marketing Manager, Lesole Selotate, said his company’s commitment to sponsoring softball was born of the impact that sport has on people and the country.
“Sport is a real force for good. It is a powerful bonding agent ÔÇô at the individual, community, national and international level. Nations take pride in their sports stars,” Selotate said.
He added that Shell Oil Botswana is thus “happy to continue this tradition of friendship and partnership” with Botswana softball.
For his part, Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) Board Member, Ookeditse Malesu, encouraged BSA to give Shell Oil Botswana as much mileage as possible to ensure that the partnership bears fruit. Malesu said while Shell Oil Botswana sponsors the league as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative, it is befitting that they can get mileage from their support of softball.
Commenting at the launch, BSA president, Tirelo Mukokomani, said the association will do all possible to ensure that the league is run efficiently. The BSA President said this will include ensuring that there are enough officials for games as well as ensuring that clubs arrive in time for their fixtures.
Meanwhile, the Shell League commenced on Saturday with at least six games played in the south, five in Gaborone and one in Jwaneng. The games will continue today (Sunday) with three games to be played at the National Diamond in Gaborone.
