Nowhere for teams to run

FOOTBALL
Local Premier League clubs that are reluctant to embrace technology will have nowhere to run but join bandwagon in order to survive and maximise profits. Gaborone United (GU) and Extension Gunners are leading the way as a new wave of technology taps into the potentially profitable football market through SMS competitions and recently introduced e-ticketing system.

This follows failed attempts by Premier League sponsors beMOBILE to provide teams with SMS codes in which they could run competitions through their supporters and make money for both parties. GU is currently in talks with beMOBILE premier league to run a raffle through their designated SMS code in which the sponsors’ subscribers will be eligible to win a new vehicle while the Gaborone based outfit reaps maximum profits from this high tech initiative.  

“We have a team that is currently engaged in talks with beMOBILE. We did not jump at the chance to utilise the SMS initiative when it was introduced because we were exploring avenues of how we can generate profit from,” GU spokesperson Hebert Letsebe said this week. Letsebe added that the competition could be launched as early as this week or the week after as the car has already been procured.

“We are expecting the report from our committee and beMOBILE this week. Everyone will be eligible to enter the competition except for members of the GU management and their close relatives,” he said. For his part Gunners Chairman William Maboane said he embraced the idea when he assumed the top position at the Peleng side, adding that SMS codes and the e-ticketing system started at Gunners before they were rolled out to other teams.

Maboane said he saw a potential to make money in this initiative that he even went to other mobile phone service providers like Mascom and Orange but they could not agree to anything as the league was sponsored by beMOBILE. Maboane said the SMS code is run through a company called Newline Technology, which is reportedly contracted to beMOBILE.

“All the teams in the premier league have designated codes but they do not seem to be interested, our SMS code is the only one that is currently active. Some of the team do not like money directly going to their bank accounts. The same problem occurred in e-ticketing.

They prefer holding cash,” he said. Maboane said the SMS code allows Gunners to run competitions where people are able to vote for the supporters’ man of the match and win airtime vouchers of up to P100 while the winning player gets P200 airtime.” He said the initiative is important in raising money for the team and support players, but observed that Gunners’ supporters had not responded in large numbers to the SMS code.

“We have to market the initiative in an effective manner,” he said. Speaking to BG Sport, Ditirwa Mphoeng, Managing Director of Newline Technology, the company managing the SMS codes for the teams said the teams were not embracing the idea.

“There is lack of knowledge, understanding and insufficient resources on their side (teams). Running the SMS requires heavy mobilisation among the teams to sell the idea to supporters,” he said, adding that he regularly speaks to the team only for the initiative to fall apart.

The other problem, Mphoeng, said was that Premier League team management personnel keep on changing. “If you try and make a follow up you meet a new person who is in the dark about the issue. For the SMS initiative to take off clubs need to invest resources but once it has caught on it becomes cost effective,” he said.

According to Mphoeng larger teams like Township Rollers and GU must lead the way in this endeavour. They must use regional meetings and television interviews to spread the message to their supporters. He said that they had discussions with the Premier League to re-launch the SMS initiative.

For his part Botswana Premier League Chief Executive Officer Bennet Mamelodi could only say that they were busy finalising a commercialisation package in which both teams and the sponsor would benefit, adding that the commercialisation package was holistic and that SMS codes were an integral part.