By Gilbert Wandera and BS Mulavi
Safaricom are the new sponsors of the popular Safari Sevens tournament.
The company on Friday unveiled a Sh25m sponsorship to run for three years.
Safaricom have come on board following the withdrawal of East African Breweries Limited, who supported the event for several years.
Speaking at the official unveiling of the sponsorship deal, Kenya Rugby Football union, KRFU chairman, Richard Omwela, said the tournament will now be referred to as Safaricom Sevens."
Omwela further announced that next year’s event will be held in early June, unlike the previous years when it was at the end.
"From 2011 we are targeting to hold the tournament in October and November so that we can attract the top rugby playing nations," he said.
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said he is delighted to have come on board after years of trying.
"We have always had our eyes on rugby for quite some time and we always wanted to be a part of it, but unfortunately the previous sponsors were not willing to share so we just had to wait," said Joseph.
"We are excited to join the sevens community and we are open to partnering with any sponsor for the Safaricom Sevens, even if it is the previous sponsor as long as we get to retain the title rights," said Joseph.
May be the only person we will not partner with is our competition," Joseph joked.
According to the agreement between the two companies, Sh22m of the sponsorship is expected to go into the tournament in cash, while the remaining Sh3m will facilitate the media centre.
"Safaricom are specialists in the communication area thus they wanted exclusive rights to the media centre and we had no problem giving it to them," said Omwela.
"They will also assist in relaying real time information of the Sevens team when they are
playing in the international Rugby Board Circuit," Omwela added.
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The Sh25m is expected to cater for the 2010
tournament before Safaricom can review their sponsorship to cater for a longer period.
Omwela said he will announce the sponsorship of the Sevens team next week.
"We will make it public whom we will work with in regard to the Sevens team," he said.
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