By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK
Local dairy giants Namibia Dairies (Pty) Ltd, through its Rietfontein Oshikandela brand, unveiled a whopping sponsorship to the Ramblers Football Club – paving the way for a great partnership with the MTC Namibia Premiership champions elect.
Rietfontein Oshikandela will over the next two years sponsor Ramblers and the club will now be officially known as Rietfontein Oshikandela Ramblers Football Club, after the company injected a sizeable amount of N$250,000 – primarily aimed at servicing the club’s development programmes.
Speaking at the launch in Windhoek on Wednesday evening, the Commercial Manager of Namibia Dairies Trevor Cormack, urged other corporate businesses to follow suit if aspiring local footballers were to realize their dream.
“Our sponsorship is aimed at the individual club level, assisting Ramblers to expand its already great image and spreading the development of football at grassroots level.”
Cormack, a former national hockey team player himself, added that his company is not only targeting the club through their involvement, as they believe the sponsorship will embrace community involvement through the players and the fans who are loyal consumers of Rietfontein Oshikandela.
A clearly excited vice-president of the Ramblers main club Herald Hecht, said the sponsorship is like manna from heaven as it would allow the club to realize its vision and long term goals.
“We can now move ahead and establish links with South African and professional clubs from abroad in our endeavours to foster more smart partnerships in the form of players’ development, exchange programmes, which could ultimately lead to the transfer of potential footballers.”
Ramblers is amongst very few clubs in the domestic football setup boasting a complete Youth Development Programme, that consists of Under-9, 11, 13, 15 and 17’s teams in addition to the Ladies Colts campaigning in the Khomas Women Football League.
Apart from the senior team, the club’s old stalwarts have not packed their boots for good and still strut their stuff in the “Old Boys” league and several social competitions, including the annual popular Otavi 5-A-Side Tournament.
“The club is currently having nine active and highly successful football entities on their books – possessing the potential to provide an outstanding platform for promoting the products and brands of our valued smart partners, Namibia Dairies,” concluded the Beanpole Club Administrator.
The Chairman of the MTC Namibia Premiership Committee for Sponsorship, Mabos Vries, applauded Rietfontein Oshikandela for their generous sponsorship and vision to invest in football.
“We as custodians of the highest level of football in this country have set up certain goals aimed at creating a conducive environment for our subjects that have entrusted us with this huge responsibility, and our main task is to ensure that all our affiliates are empowered in such a fashion that they are able to fulfill their obligation without any financial hindrance,” said the bulky official.
Vries could not resist a parting shot at the NFA Consortium of Sponsors and challenged them to penetrate clubs through their individual products which are on the market in order to enable clubs to be associated with specific products and not necessarily with the company.
The occasion was attended by high-ranking officials from Ohlthaver & List, members of the NFA and its affiliates as well as the entire executive of Ramblers Club that included the club’s long serving patron, the honourable retired politician, Hermann Toivo ya Toivo, who had the hundreds of attendants in stitches with his sense of humour.