Sports
HARP In Sponsorship Deal With Dolphins, Four Others
Harp Premium lager, a product of Guinness Nigeria Plc. has announced an exciting partnership with Dolphins Fc of Port Harcourt and four other football clubs in the Nigerian Professional Football League. The other clubs are: Heartland FC of Owerri, Rangers FC of Enugu, Sunshine Stars of Akure and Lobi Stars FC of Makurdi. With this sponsorship, Harp Lager becomes the first beer brand in Nigeria to sponsor 5 football clubs in Nigerian Professional Football League. The deals were signed and announced at an unvely ceremony held in Lagos this week.
According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Seni Adetu, “This sponsorship is a reflection of Harp’s immense growth over the years in terms of its national coverage and consumer reach. This also reflects our commitment to enhancing the experience of football fans all over the country, hence identifying with these football Clubs. The five clubs were selected based on a growing fan-followership in each club’s respective home regions, and the accolades they have won over the years” Adetu said.
The Nigerian Professional Football League has evolved over the years into a force to be reckoned with. Nigeria’s victory at the recently concluded Nation’s cup attest to the immense contributions of some of our local league players like Sunday Mba and Godfrey Oboabona who are true examples of the amazing professionals that play in our league.
Also, speaking at the event, Marketing & Innovation Director GNPlc, Mr. Austin Ufomba said: “Harp Premium Lager had been associated with music and entertainment in the past through platforms such as the Harp-Rhythm Unplugged with a huge success. However, we are always desirous of new channels to reach out to customers in more exciting ways; hence our choice of Nigerian league because football provides a ready avenue to engage with consumers on multiple levels”.
The sponsorship covers full-shirt branding rights, pitch panel visibility, live match coverage and placement, stadium branding and merchandising on match days, operating exclusive fan zones at match venues and exclusive branding of the clubs’ official supporters club.
Responding on behalf of the clubs, the General Manager, Dolphins Football Club, Dumbor Aawaneni (TBC) said they are excited at the deal.
“This is the first time we are witnessing a sponsorship of this proportion by a single brand for five clubs. Harp lager has not only demonstrated their support for indigenous football across the country, but has also effectively reached every Nigerian football fan that is so passionate about their home clubs. This is a first and we salute Harp for coming forward to engage with the multitude of fans at this level, with this announcement, Harp lager will find its way to the hearts and tables of fans across the country” Aawaneni lauded.
The financial deatsils of the deals were not revealed but Adetu disclosed that alhough the deals were exclussive the club remain at liberty to dtsclose.
It would be recalled that in 2012, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics ranked the Nigerian Premier League as the best and strongest league in Africa ahead of countries like Egypt and Tunisia. The Nigerian league is currently ranked the 24th position in the world.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor