Jomo Biyela urges sponsors to invest in football

Richards Bay chairman Jomo Biyela says he doesn’t understand why companies don’t sponsors football when it’s the most watched sport in the country.

In July, Biyela — who was elected as an executive member of the league last week — concluded a R100m sponsorship deal with Phakwe GAS for his club, but there are a number of clubs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) that don’t have sponsors.

He said he’d try to convince sponsors to come to football. “Well, what is important is, as much as some of us have managed to acquire some sponsorships, most of the teams are still struggling. So, I’m not sure why those big companies are sceptical about financing football,” Biyela said.

“To be honest, football is the number one sport in our country, so one of the things we need to do is to sell the sport to prospective sponsors to acknowledge that we need some assistance and to acknowledge that football is the number one sport.

“If you invest in football, you are not just helping those teams but assisting youngsters from townships and rural areas to be part of football.”

Being part of the executive committee, Biyela will cater to the needs of all the 32 clubs in the PSL and added that they’d need to have stability to draw confidence from investors. “This league is number one in Africa, and the last time I checked it was number 12 in the world. So, we need stability and confidence from investors,” he said.

“People have invested their money in sponsorship, so they also want to make it a point that their money is being spent wisely.”

Meanwhile, the Natal Rich Boyz have struggled this season despite having a new sponsor. They have scored two goals in 10 games across all competitions. They were also knocked out from the Carling Knockout by newly promoted side Magesi, who will face Mamelodi Sundowns in the final at Free State Stadium on Saturday at 6pm.

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