The Kashif & Shanghai Organisation has made an appeal to clubs to be more patient as it continues negotiations with foreign company, Plus One for it to honour its commitment in a deal last year to hand over sponsorship kits.
This appeal came two days after Odinga Lumumba, president of the winning club Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United, threatened legal action because the club has not received its kits eight months after the completion of the 21st edition of the tournament as was reported in this newspaper on August 17.
Lumumba harshly criticised the K&S Organisation for “the royal run around”, questioning even the credibility of directors, Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major.
This had prompted Major to respond stating that the “Kashif & Shanghai Organisation have no credibility problem and everything we say come to pass. We had a slight hiccup with Plus One in terms of the shipping and we hope that the shipping is settled by now and month-end.“The shipment was purchased and made out of China and we hope this can be cleared up by month-end.”
On the other hand, when the deal was inked last November Plus One’s position was to provide the top four teams with kits in varying amounts. These shipments should have arrived by March, two months after the completion of the tournament.
In Alpha United’s case, by virtue of winning the tournament, they were entitled to a kit sponsorship to the tune of $5M. Runner-up Pele should have received $3M while the other two teams should have received $1M and $500,000 respectively.
However, according to a press release from the K&S Organisation yesterday it noted that it is “fully cognizant of its responsibility in this matter but can do no more at this juncture other than appeal to the clubs to allow us to make every effort to address the matter to finality.”
Further, the release stated that the K&S Organisation “recognize and acknowledge our particular responsibility in this matter,” especially in light of the directors being in “frequent communication with the PLUS One organization.” The release noted also that the K&S Organisation weighed the seriousness of the Plus One company due to the fact that a representative from the company was present at the presentation ceremony earlier this year where vouchers were presented to members of the winning club.
“The Kashif and Shanghai Organization has been in frequent communication with the PLUS One organization and the various promises that have been made to dispatch the prizes to Guyana have not been honoured. Additionally, we have communicated to the PLUS One organization the concern of the clubs over the non- receipt of the promised prizes.
“It will be recalled by those clubs that attended the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the tournament earlier this year that a representative of the PLUS One organization was present at the event and personally distributed vouchers to representatives of the winning clubs, which act, in our view, established what we believed to be the seriousness of PLUS One’s commitment,” the release stated. Meanwhile, the release noted, the K&S Organisation has requested the assistance of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to bring about a satisfactory and speedy resolution. The GFF had signed a four-year renewable sponsorship deal with the company in January in excess of US$350,000 annually.
That deal would have enabled the Federation to equip national teams at all levels. The company had also promised to make available to the GFF replica T-Shirts at wholesale prices and even market them on their (Plus One) website (www.plusoneusa.com).
However, this deal has been on ice since the signing with Marketing Executive Donna Wilson and the now banned president of the GFF Colin Klass.
“The Kashif and Shanghai Organization has enlisted the support of the Guyana Football Federation in seeking to bring a satisfactory resolution to this matter and continues to look to the Federation for its support. We will [also] continue to impress upon the PLUS One organization the importance of honouring their commitment and the concern of the affected clubs in the matter,” the statement added.