$27m Claro boost for Clarendon's football

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

The Clarendon Football Association received a major boost yesterday when telecommuni-cations company Claro handed over a cheque for $27 million to parish president Michael Ricketts.

The five-year sponsorship will cover all Clarendon Football Association-run competitions. Latoya Williams, media manager of Claro, who participated in the handover during a press launch which was held at Jamaica Football Federation office in New Kingston yesterday, said her company was committed to the development of quality football in the parish.

"I want to stress the fact that Claro is sponsoring all of the football leagues in Clarendon because this represents a significant interest in development in every aspect of the game throughout the parish," Williams said.

"It also represents a major commitment to the parish of Clarendon itself, because we know that there are tremendous value-added benefits which accrue to communities as a direct result of thriving local football activities," Williams said. "Some of these include economic growth and, more important, reductions in the levels of crime and antisocial behaviour."

Historic venture

Williams added: "It is our sincere hope that this level of sponsorship will provide the ingredients necessary to see resurgence in football, both in the parish of Clarendon, in particular, and in the central region."

Ricketts expressed delight at the sponsorship.

"It is a very historic venture because never in the history of Clarendon's football have we ever been able to attract this kind of sponsorship," said Ricketts. "We are ecstatic and so the onus is on us now to ensure that the sponsors do get value for the money.

"We will be spending a lot of time and energy on our youth programmes and to ensure that the transition is made from youth football to the senior level," he said.

Ricketts added: "Over the years, we have been able to win a number of youth competitions, but we have won the National Premier League competition only once, and it therefore means that we need to work to ensure that our youth players make the transition to the senior level."

The Clarendon knockout football competition is set to kick off tomorrow at Brancourt, with 21 teams taking part.