LASCELLES Logan, president of the St Thomas Football Association, has praised Restaurants of Jamaica’s sponsorship in providing Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) meals to under-17 teams on match days as significant in providing nutritional support to the youngsters who will one day transition to the under-20s and senior teams in the parish’s major league.

Speaking at a recent handover of cheques from McKay Security Limited’s for sponsorship of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) and St Thomas Football Association, Logan thanked the security firm’s chief executive officer, Jason McKay, for bringing KFC on board with its sponsorship of a bucket of chicken for each team on match days.

“St Thomas residents were thrilled when they heard that the first business to open in the spanking-new Morant Bay Urban Centre would have been KFC. The St Thomas Football Association was particularly happy because we knew of McKay Security’s relationship with KFC and, knowing Jason McKay’s commitment, we were confident that we would somehow benefit from that relationship,” said Logan.

St Thomas teams must participate in the under-17 league in order to field a team in the senior major league — a stipulation which has been incentivised by KFC’s sponsorship.

“Fulfilling a key nutritional role, providing protein to growing youngsters, addresses a root challenge the football community faces. By feeding our players, ensuring they are capable of performing at their best-possible levels, is a major assist for any football programme geared to elevating youngsters,” Logan added.

Meanwhile, McKay, who unveiled a historic $4.5-million sponsorship of KSAFA and the St Thomas Football Association — the highlight of which was $1 million apiece to the champions of both parish’s major leagues — said he was happy to have his firm partner with St Thomas as a second-year sponsor, doling out $1 million to the under-17 programme.

“I must thank KFC for not hesitating in coming forward and partnering with us as a sponsor,” said McKay. I would, one day, love to see similar sponsorships extended to other youth teams across the country, which would eventually benefit Jamaica’s national senior team.

“Jamaica needs to have home-bred under-17s transitioning to a national under-20 team which would be kept together to form a future national senior team — instead of us going all over the world to get players transferring their nationalities to Jamaica,” said a concerned McKay, pointing out that the core of the team which historically qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France was locally based players.