Rwandan clubs should acquire sponsors

Last season, was not good for Rwanda football clubs, from the beginning and till the end of the league. It is well known that some of the best clubs, with great players, like Atraco finally crumbled and disappeared during the season. First it was Mukura that failed to clear players’ salaries. Second, it was Rayon Sports where the players refused to show up for training for almost a week. However, it came as surprise when one of the strongest and popular clubs in the region Atraco collapsed. It was a great surprise in the region because, Atraco were Cecafa champions in 2009, after beating Sudanese champions El Merreikh in the Cecafa championship which took place in Sudan. However, everyone is aware that Bralirwa will sponsor the league for a period of four years. But I don’t think it’s really enough for all the clubs’s maintenance the whole season. Clubs should be given the opportunity of gaining their own sponsors, because this will increase and boost the competition within this coming season of 2011. I guess it would be a great opportunity for these clubs to compete with other foreign clubs tactically and financially. It will also be a great solution for the clubs as they will be able to secure players from moving up and down from different clubs with in the region. When you get a good example from the foreign leagues, and clubs, you find that different clubs have their own sponsors and the league has its own sponsor who is the main one. While some other people are happy with the Bralirwa sponsorship, some of the players are not aware if there will be a direct salary payment. However, this means that they are not very sure if they will be earning their salaries in time. Although last season was harsh to some of the clubs, other clubs were lucky in many ways. Although lack of finances caused problems to some clubs due to the failure of sponsorship, some other clubs gained from that situation in different ways. Clubs like Fc Marines were supposed to be relegated to second division but didn’t because of Atraco’s collapse. We football fans are the ones to maintain our fan clubs, because it will not be easy for our clubs, if we don’t appear at the stadiums through buying tickets which is the main contribution. According to my own opinion I guess Atraco had tried its very best because it did not have many fans. Instead of the fans contribution by buying tickets, Atraco would rent fans on the other side to cheer the club on the pitch. Therefore, I think that if we Rwandese including the football management body don’t check on this problem soon, it will affect both the existing and the rising clubs. So far, the best chance and issue which is in Rwandan football today, is that most clubs are targeting young Rwandan talent that are not expensive in form of salaries. Not like sometime back, when clubs used to recruit foreign and expensive talent who would put the clubs management under pressure by their disappearance at any moment. Today it’s easy to manage the clubs and simple to select the national team because most strong clubs like APR FC and Rayon sports are using Rwandese players. Ends

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Rwandan clubs should acquire sponsors