The whopping R1.05 million sponsorship splashed on Alexandra’s cash-strapped Bluebirds Ladies Football Club could not have come in more handy as the team is set for another bruising season of the Sasol Women’s League.
The huge sponsorship is more than welcome for this Alex outfit which has been battling all odds to survive, not just in the league but as a team from one of the poorest urban nodes in the country, Alexandra.
So much is being wasted, according to me, on sponsorship of teams that already have all the resources, and this tends to concentrate sponsorships on either Pirates or Chiefs. People and corporates tend to forget the people that really matter in this beautiful game come from grassroots football.
This is where talent is discovered, nurtured and moulded, and the big guns of soccer in this country only come get it when it is already made and all they do is polish the rough diamond for it to shine on the big stage.
The people who do all the spade work are those at the lowest rung of the development side of football and they often do not get any recognition, let alone remuneration for the work they do as it is all voluntary.
Most of these club owners at grassroots level use their own funds to prop up the talent in their teams, and the ‘Big Brother’ teams just come on to the scene, scout the talent and grab and walk away with it –without ploughing back a single cent into the clubs that have done all the donkey work.
I think it is high time that corporates and potential sponsors put their money where it’s needed – in grassroots football, and in this way our development initiatives will become top notch and there will be no need anymore for the ‘hijacking’ of police vans for soccer matches, as has happened previously with Bluebirds.
I take my hat off to JM Busha for his vision and pray to the Almighty to give him a long life to see his vision and dream come true, especially for female football, which is just shoved into a corner by the powers that be, hence our minimal success on the international front.
Charity begins at home, so they say JM, and I thank you for realising this and not going with the flow into the deep pool to pick up teams for sponsorship. Grow with the Bluebirds brand and one day you will pride yourself to have discovered and nurtured them to success.
Halala Bluebirds halala … and please use the sponsorship money wisely – no Nkandlas, please!
