Gunnner- As Awkward as it gets

This is a guest column by ‘gunner’. He is regular columnist for givemegoal.com, you can send your articles at [email protected]

Imagine your favorite club is playing the finals of a major national league. what would be your chant ? ABC bank Kathmandu FC ! ABC bank Kathmandu FC ! ABC bank Kathmandu FC ! NO right ? it sounds perfectly weird to say that. As far as my knowledge none of the top division clubs around the world have their title sponsors before their names.

It’s a fact that these sponsors have been supporting football clubs in Nepal financially and this is a positive thing in Nepali club football. But my question here is, WHY ? being a business student myself, I only say such cases during events, the title sponsor would be given priority and their brand name will be used before the events name. But its different when it comes to football. it’s inappropriate actually, or may I say it’s the lack of professionalism and qualified management in the clubs. or lets say the smartness of the private companies to hook up with a deal that is just about perfect for the value of their money ?

You all know by now what I am saying here. I have no grudge with the business houses whatsoever, but being a football fanatic I do have concerns for where my country’s club football is heading. Isn’t the shirt sponsor enough ?? and I don’t think Nepal has become so commercialized. Ok, let’s check some teams from around the world who can make a lots and lots money letting their title sponsors name before their clubs name. let’s start from cricket. IPL (club level) NOPE, Baseball ? NOPE, football ? de NO,  so why do we ?

A name is something that is really important. it is the IDENTITY of the company, brand or whatever the business is.  It was almost 2 decades ago that I went to my first game at the Dasharath Rangashala and I have a blurry image of what it was those days. There were no ABC bank or XYZ car companies. what was there ? just names of mighty football clubs of Nepal.

This is a topic where I do not want to point my fingers to one particular club as the matter has been spread and a lot of clubs are doing so. Hence it’s a matter of concern for both the clubs and the  football governing body i.e. ANFA.

until next time…

Jay Nepal, By “Gunner”

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