Sponsor rescues cash-strapped Bluebirds

There will be no need to ‘hijack’ police vans for soccer matches as the cash-strapped Bluebirds Ladies Football Club has finally secured a sponsor.

The Birds, which plies its trade in the Sasol Women’s League and has battled in their two seasons to keep up the huge financial demands of this elite league, had to beg for a police van at the Alexandra Police Station to transport them to one of their fixtures.

But now, the Dunkeld-based investments company, JM Busha, has come to their rescue. Coach Malvin Khumalo said, “With this sponsorship, both the technical staff and players will now breathe a huge sigh of relief as it enables them to concentrate on playing the game and not worry about how they will travel to honour it.”

Birds’ public relations and marketing manager, Khayelihle Maseko, said the sponsorship, of which the full details would be disclosed in a media launch event in March, would go a long way in the development of women’s football – not just in Alexandra but other townships in Gauteng.

Already the company is rolling out an ambitious development initiative for women’s football with the proposed hosting of the JM Busha Women’s Tournament at the Altrek Sports Ground on the weekend of 19 and 20 March.

Twelve teams from around Gauteng will be hosted in Alexandra by Bluebirds and one of them will include Silver Spears from Vosloorus which has history-making blind coach Dumisani Ntombela as their mentor. Ntombela won the local league before proceeding to conquer the South African Football Association regional promotional play-offs to win a berth in the Sasol Women’s League.

Other teams that will participate in the JM Busha Women’s Tournament are Alex Ladies (Alex); Aqua ladies (Krugersdorp); Zebra Forces Ladies (Mabopane); Springs Home Sweepers (Kwa-Thema near Springs); Pull Together (Mamelodi in Pretoria); Etwatwa Ladies (Etwatwa); Croesus Ladies (Randburg); United Birds (Daveyton); Moshana Ladies (Thembisa); and Imbokodo Ladies (Soweto).

On their choice of the 12 teams, Maseko said they had selected teams that were financially disadvantaged and needed a cash injection to empower them to carry on with their development initiatives.

“The aim of the tournament is to strive to revive and strengthen women’s football, especially the less-resourced teams. These teams fitted in with our specifications and philosophy like a hand in glove,” said Maseko.

Details: Khayelihle Maseko 072 878 9131; Andile Shawe 074 724 6376.