Guaranty Trust Bank on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Gambia Secondary School Football Association, under the auspices of The Gambia Football Federation, for a four-year sponsorship of the Secondary Schools Football Tournament for both male and female, which will henceforth be called “GTBank Principals Cup”.
The Principals Cup is aimed at actively engaging the youth through sports whilst promoting the values of excellence and fair play.
In the package, the Bank will give D500, 000 to the Association as administrative cost. The winners of both male and female categories will receive a cash prize of D45, 000.00 and a trophy each. The runners up will receive D40, 000.00 cash prize each. All participating teams will be provided with a set of GTBank branded jerseys, 2 footballs, officers’ wear and a whistle. The organising committee will be provided with GTBank branded shirts as well as a broadcast of the finals on GRTS.
Speaking at the event held at GTBank head office along Kairaba Avenue, Bolaji Ayodele, Managing Director of GTBank, said the journey leading to the signing ceremony was long and hopes efforts made to get to the agreement would be justified when the agreement would have elapsed in four years time.
“Let me also register my sincere thanks to The Gambia Football Federation and the Secondary Schools Football Association for accepting to partner with us in the development of grassroots football through school football.”
Guaranty Trust Bank as part of its corporate social responsibility, he went on, is proud to sponsor the promotion of youth development through grassroots football competition.
“Our Bank’s interest in football started in 2005 when GTBank plc partnered with Lagos State to resuscitate the Principals Cup competition in the State. The sponsorship objective for the Bank is to adopt sports as a tool to provoke academic excellence and create local football stars that will become ambassadors to the international community. It is noteworthy to say that the success of the Principals Cup gave birth to other GTBank-sponsored football competitions – The Heritage Cup and Super Cup.”
Mr Ayodele went on: “It is our expectation that partnering with The Gambia Secondary Schools Football Association to establish the GTBank Principals Cup competition will bring senior secondary schools together, in an atmosphere of camaraderie. We also hope that the competition will rekindle the nostalgia inherent in the older generation through their memories and participation in football competitions.”
GTBank, he revealed, has budgeted D1, 400, 000.00 for this year’s tournament, and D500, 000.00 of the total budget will be paid to The Gambia Secondary Schools Football Association to meet their administration cost.
On his part, Martin Gomez, President of The Gambia Secondary School Football Association, thanked GTBank for the timely intervention and promised that the Association would live up to expectation.
He urged other private institutions to emulate the good work by GTBank, noting that the Association is doing a lot in promoting grassroots sports through schools.
Lamin Kaba Bajo the President of GFF said he was quite impressed witnessing the signing ceremony. He said the new development would greatly help in the development of sports at the grassroots level.
“Promoting grassroots football through schools is very fundamental in the development strategy and action plan of the GFF. The GFF will not rest on our laurels in ensuring that the tournament goes successful,” said Bajo.
Youth and Sports Minister, Alieu K Jammeh, said GTBank has for many years been supporting sports development, football in particular.
Jammeh a former staff of GTBank, said the Government has given so much priority to sports development, particularly football. He therefore thanked the Bank for complementing Government’s efforts.
“Sustainable development of sports requires all hands on deck. Private sector participation can lighten the budgetary burden on Government,” he concluded.
by Alieu Ceesay
