Gold Fields Ghana Limited has explained that the withdrawal of the company’s sponsorship for the Black Stars was not as a result of financial challenges.
Mr Alfred Baku, Executive Vice President of the Company’s West Africa region disclosed that it was purely a decision to give other corporate players the opportunity to also market themselves with the Black Stars brand.
The company, with mines at Tarkwa and Damang, spent US$15million dollars on the five-year romance with Ghana’s senior male national football team, Black Stars.
That period was the brightest in the history of the Stars as the team qualified for the nation’s first World Cup tournament in Germany as well as the 2010 edition held in South Africa.
The partnership ended in 2012.
Addressing guests at the unveiling of a US$300,000 sponsorship package for club side, Medeama SC, Mr Baku reiterated that the decision to opt out of the Black Stars sponsorship was never because the company was broke.
“Gold Fields Ghana Limited was not broke as a lot of people thought. We heard a lot of stories like that pointed out that the company was broke, hence the decision to call it quit.”
“The period we sponsored the team was one of the best. We took pride in supporting the team to make its maiden appearance at the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006 and also qualified for the 2010 edition.
“These were important milestones with the team which the company will always be proud of. So, at this point we decided to bow out for other corporate companies to also take the opportunity to market themselves,” Mr Baku said.
According to him, sports development and promotion was very dear to Gold Fields Ghana and would go every length to support it to get to the highest level.
This, he said, explains why the company was supporting golf with the sponsorship of the Gold Fields PGA championship and football through the support for Medeama which has become a community team.
He mentioned that the company has rehabilitated the Akoon Park in Tarkwa which is currently serving as home ground for Medeama.
Within the period, the company will reconstruct the Tarkwa and Abosso (T&A) Park and raise it to an international standard to turn the Tarkwa Township into a football hub.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
