The South African Football Association (Safa) has taken a step in the direction of securing sponsorship for Third Division clubs.
No Bones With Jones can confirm that Hollywood Bets will be the new sponsor for the Regional Third Division for the next two years. There is also an option to extend this partnership for another year.
The details surrounding the partnership are still sketchy at this stage but should be cleared up by the end of tomorrow when the region meets with the club’s representatives at the Athlone Stadium.
This is certainly fantastic news for clubs playing in the fourth tier of SA football as it last had a sponsor in 2019 in the form of SA Breweries when the league was known as the SAB Third Division.
No Bones with Jones has reliably learnt that the league’s status quo will remain as one stream after calls to split the 18 teams into two streams.
There have been calls recently for the league to be split into two streams due to the financial burden it places on clubs with shallow pockets.
Teams pay up to R1500 per away game and that is only for transport. Multiply that by 17 (away) games which adds up to between R25 000-R30 000 per season.
There are other costs involved such as registration fees at R40 per player, R2000 for affiliation fee to Safa CT, R300 per medical certificate per player, referees’ fees at R375 per game from each team which push up the running costs to in the excess of R50 000.
With the new sponsorship in place, it will definitely offset the costs incurred on clubs and this should be most welcoming for the struggling clubs.
