LIME squeezes $60M into Primary football
TELECOMMS giant LIME yesterday announced it would be sweetening the deal for local youth football through a $60-million three-year title sponsorship of the LIME/INSPORTS Primary Football League which was launched yesterday at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel.
The sponsorship is the largest football sponsorship ever by LIME and the largest in youth football locally.
“We don’t look at it as football development… we look at it as youth development,” chairman of LIME, Chris Dehring, said.
“This investment is also indicative of our belief in the power of sports to drive the personal development of our country’s young people. We look forward to a long time association,” he added.
More than 200 boys and girls schools teams will compete in the six-month-long tournament.
“If you multiply that by 15 you realise the impact this competition will have on our plethora of players,” Dehring added.
“This is really the age in the world of international sports where your start to pick out the players who will become professional footballers.”
The preliminary round of the competition will follow a round-robin format, with the winners advancing to a round of 16 with the top team from each parish, Portmore, and one wild card winner.
The competition will follow the Jamaica Football Federation’s (JFF) approved Grassroots format which allows for full gender participation, unlimited substitutions, smaller fields, smaller goals and nine-member teams.
LIME’s sponsorship will cover the cost of gear, equipment — including smaller goal posts — a technical development programme for young players, as well as the cost of match and referees fees, venue preparation and other administrative costs.
The company is hoping to televise a number of the matches on its mobile television service which was launched a few weeks ago.
Dehring, a former Manning Cup star at St George’s College who earned a football scholarship to study in the United States after high school, spoke about the impact the sport had on his own life.
“Football has done so much for me as an individual,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dehring used the opportunity to appeal to Minister of Sport, Olivia Grange, who was present at the launch, for a National Sports Policy.
“We have an incredible opportunity for the development of professional sports,” Dehring argued.
