A whopping R1.05m sponsorship deal for Birds

Bluebirds Ladies Football Club can now breathe a huge sigh of relief as they go into their third season of the bruising Sasol Women’s League.

This after clinching a whopping R1 050 000 sponsorship deal for the cash-strapped Alex outfit from JM Busha Investment Group owned by Zimbabwean businessman Joseph Makamba Busha.

The group is a Johannesburg-headquartered company which has operations in various Southern African Development Community countries and has now invested in a team from the township considered to be the ‘mother of all townships’ in South Africa.

Busha said the sponsorship of the Birds was tied to his ‘desire to see women’s football in Gauteng elevated to another level, hence I have tied the Birds’ sponsorship to the JM Busha Women’s Tournament, which is set to debut as of 19 and 20 March’.

“I have been longing to get involved in Alexandra’s development for a very long time and it dates back to the introduction of the Alexandra Renewal Project in which I was interested in the development of low-cost housing,” Busha told Alex News.

“I was not successful then but kept my ears to the ground for any other opportunity that might present itself… and when Gloria Brown [chairperson of Birds and TV football commentator] came with the proposal to sponsor the Birds, I immediately jumped at it.”

The tournament, which will be held at the Altrek Stadium, will feature 11 other financially struggling teams from around Gauteng that will be hosted by the Birds. The teams that will compete are: Alex Ladies (Alex), Aqua Ladies (Krugersdorp), Zebra Force Ladies (Mabopane), Springs Home Sweepers (Kwa-Thema in Springs), Pull Together (Mamelodi in Pretoria), Etwatwa Ladies (Etwatwa), Croesus Ladies (Randburg), United Birds (Daveyton), Moshana Ladies (Thembisa), Servol Ladies (Deep South) and Imbokodo Ladies (Soweto).

Details: Khayelihle Maseko 072 878 9131.