BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
HARARE giants Dynamos have hailed their main sponsor Gold Leaf Tobacco for their support to the club, which has ensured that players at the Harare giants are well taken care of during the current trying times.
At a time when many footballers have had to take pay cuts with most leagues currently suspended due the coronavirus pandemic around the globe, Dynamos have continued to pay full salaries thanks to the financial muscle of their sponsors.
Dynamos last year signed a five-year deal with Gold Leaf Tobacco through their cigarette brand Rudland & George, worth $1 million a season the club “broke the bank” to bring in 13 new players during the off season transfer window at the beginning of the year.
“So far, we have paid our players full salaries for March and April. “It’s our wish and intention to continue doing that for as long as the lockdown continues.
Our sponsors [Gold Leaf Tobacco] have enabled us to do this because they have supported the club with the full budget every month,” Dynamos chairman Isaiah Mupfurutsa told Standardsport.
“They make us proud during a time such as this. We want to thank them and appreciate them for being very understanding and continuing to be committed to club.
We are praying that this thing will pass soon so that we can repay them and this includes all our sponsors and partners,” he added.
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The support Dynamos has been receiving from their sponsors comes in the wake of unconfirmed reports suggesting that telecommunication giant NetOne is pulling the plug on football sponsorship to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic fight.
Traditional giants CAPS United, Highlanders, Chapungu and Black Rhinos are bankrolled by NetOne.
Mupfurutsa was not keen to comment on the matter, but described it as a sad development, if it turns out to be true.
“If it’s true it’s a sad development for football because it affects our competitors. Dynamos are not Dynamos without its rivals at their strongest. So it would not be good for football development.
“And again if it’s true there is a good reason when the sponsor came to that decision because NetOne is a professional company and would only arrive at such a decision after solid engagement with its partners,” he said.
In 2018 NetOne unveiled sponsorship for the ‘big three’ clubs Dynamos, Highlanders and CAPS United before taking on board army sides Black Rhinos and Chapungu last season.
Dynamos’ marriage with NetOne ended in December 2018 before Gold Leaf Tobacco pounced on an opportunity to sponsor the Glamour Boys.
