KSAFA U17s earn sponsorship boost

JASON MCKAY, president of New Raiders Football Club and chief executive officer, McKay Security, said his company’s gear sponsorship of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association’s Under-17 League is an investment that will eventually redound to the benefit of the country’s national programme.

“You cannot build a sport from the adult divisions unless that sport is already a success,” McKay pointed out at a recent sponsorship signing, which will lead to the provision of gear for all teams in the competition.

“The fact that so many of our footballers, who represent our national team come from other countries and are products of those countries junior football programmes, suggest that our current programme is not a success story.

“Therefore, you have to build the sport through the youth leagues. It is also important that all teams appear to be equally supported, especially when we are dealing with junior squads, so the same quality gear, for all, is an important step in that direction, hence our choosing to sponsor that segment of the cost,” said McKay.

$2.6 million deal

McKay Security is also gear and prize-money sponsor of the St Thomas Football Association’s Under-17s, totalling a historic $2.6 million deal for the eastern parish.

Affirming his company’s overall commitment to the development of football, last November McKay Security handed over 300 pairs of PUMA football boots to 20 teams participating in the 2025 St Catherine Football Association’s (SCFA) Division One and Major League.

The sponsored St Catherine Major League teams kicked off Saturday’s new season as McKay Security brand ambassadors. In a previous sponsorship of both leagues last year, the company provided 400 footballs and 35 team kits, totalling $6 million in equipment in a historic deal with Locker Room Sports.

“The boots were costly. However, Western Sports, similar to Locker Room Sports, who provided the team kits, offered us great prices because we were negotiating for so many teams. This is the approach that needs to be taken, not each team approaching a supplier,” McKay pointed out.

Peter Reid, former president of SCFA, hailed McKay Security’s sponsorship as historic, comparing it to telecommunications company LIME’s three-year $15 million sponsorship of the association 14 years ago.

“There has been nothing like this since the LIME sponsorship,” said Reid. “In fact, no other parish association has anything like this in place,” said the football stalwart.