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Lumumba Has an Alternative

Nov 28, 2010 Sports

Dear Sir,
President of Alpha United, Mr. Odinga Lumumba, who continues to display his arrogance as a “badge of honor” in relation to the coordination and successful staging of a football tournament have once more bitten off more than he can chew, by publicly advocating “the Co-Directors of the Annual Kashif & Shanghai Knockout tournament should increase the winner’s prize money to four million and give each team a preparation fee of $400,000 each”.
Sir, this is based on the fact that the advocate had indicated in the publication of your newspaper (21/11/10) that the organisers had received over $35,000,000 in sponsorship from corporate Guyana”, even going a step further in naming companies and the amount they have contributed. A claim that was labeled as “untrue” by the organisers in the following day’s publication of your newspaper.
While there is “more in that mortar than the pestle” from a simple calculative standpoint Lumumba’s exorbitant claim would result in an additional total of $9,200,000! When taking into consideration eighteen teams participating in the competition. However, with sport is no longer being sports, but rather a business it must be taken into careful consideration that at the end of the day, the investment of time, energy and money= profit(s).
And who wouldn’t want to venture down the road of profitability? The very Lumumba with the Alpha United Summer Festival K.O, was initially intended as a profit making venture, but didn’t live up to the desired expectations! Was any clarion call made publicly for preparation fee by any club and increase in prize monies based upon the amount of sponsorship Lumumba received?
By relative comparison the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is in receipt of close to USD$150,000 for the National League on an annual basis of the competition, which is in its second year.
Why it is Lumumba have not publicly advocated a significant increase in prize monies for this competition in addition to preparation fees? Compare the amount that FIFA has doled out and arrive at your own conclusion? Compare the cost of rental of venues with the National Stadium, in mind? Compare the amount of matches in the National League, in pursuit of winning $2,000,000 of probably playing matches 22, as against 4 in the Kashif & Shanghai.
Additionally, the Kashif & Shanghai tournament is saddled with an astronomical sum of $1,000,000 in levy fees by the GFF, the largest of all invitational tournaments, which is more than the others combined. Compounded by the other expenses within a budget, meals for example for the distant matches which is provided by the K & S Organisation! In the National League clubs have to foot the bill and pay for its own advertising, when hosting home matches.
In the final analysis Alpha and Lumumba have three (3) options at their disposal which are: (1) Withdraw seek corporate sponsorship and run his own tournament (2) Advocate that all other tournaments increase their prize monies and give preparation fees. (3) Simply shut up and put up. Mr. Editor, until Lumumba can subscribe to the attributes of diplomacy, professionalism and decency in his tunnel vision for football he would not be able to lift the sport’s standard!
Julian Smith

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