THOHOYANDOU – Thohoyandou I District Football Association, Thodfa I, is now financially viable. This follows the decision by the managing director of Reri’s Insurance Brokers, Mr David Mureri, to sponsor the association. The ceremony during which the sponsorship was officially launched was held at the old Venda parliamentary chamber last Friday evening.

During the ceremony, Mr Mureri handed over a cheque to the value of R150 000 to the president of the association, Mr Elvis Khorommbi. In his address, Mureri stated that it was his wish to see the association producing players for the local PSL teams, Black Leopards, Dynamos and Silver Stars.

He appealed to the management of the league to manage the funds properly, saying a huge portion of the money should be channelled towards the development of players, instead of office administration.

The MEC for Sport Arts and Culture, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, stated that the government cannot curb the high rate of unemployment alone. He appealed to the business community to follow in the footsteps of Reri’s Insurance Brokers, saying sports have become a major employment provider of late. He further indicated that sponsoring the associations was not good enough as the individual clubs cannot carry the financial burden of running the day-to-day affairs for the teams without sponsorship.

The president of the association, Mr Elvis Khorommbi, revealed that it was difficult for his association to run smoothly without a sponsor. He mentioned another company that has promised to sponsor the association four years ago and vanished at the time when they were supposed to hand the league prizes over to the teams.

The archbishop for the United African Apostolic Church, UAAC, Bishop EM Mureri, attended the ceremony. According to the league administrator, Mrs Nancy Tshikumbane, 60 teams that are affiliated with the association will benefit from the sponsorship. Magaraba Church Choir entertained the guests during the ceremony.