By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff ReporterSPONSORS OF the National Premier League (NPL), Wray & Nephew, yesterday launched two initiatives for the 2003-04 season at its headquarters on Spanish Town Road, yesterday.
The initiatives are a pools competition and an interactive website which are aimed at involving the Jamaican public in the NPL and to make the league more exciting to the fans, said brand manager for Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, Andrew Price.
"We wanted to reward the loyal football fans who have been following the National Premier League and to get people more involved, to get a spectator influence on the sport. So we decided to come up with this pool. It is not unusual, there are pools across the world so we decided to bring this additional initiative to build up the hype and get people involved and we believe it will give the league a lift," Price said.
Captain Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), commended Wray & Nephew for its support and said the company has set a positive trend for other corporations to follow.
"Wray & Nephew has been involved with football for as long as I can remember. This announcement will go a very far way in helping people, not only in Jamaica but across the world, to recognise the tremendous effort that is being put in place by the Jamaica Football Federation and the football fraternity in general.
Your (Wray & Nephew) initiative, I'm sure, will encourage others to do likewise and here you have demonstrated the way forward. You are a trendsetter, and I'm sure we'll benefit from your involvement in this project." a pleased Burrell said about Wray & Nephew's plans.
POOLS COMPETITION
The pools competition, which begins October 20, will last for the duration of the league and works as follows: Football fans will be asked to predict the results and scores for each of the six games played on Sundays. Ten points will be allocated for the correct result and score in each match and five points for the correct result only. The first entry with the maximum of 60 points (10 points for each game) will be the winner. If no entry has the perfect score, the entry with the highest number of points wins. Each entry must be submitted with a red security strip from a bottle of Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum.
Contestants stand a chance of winning up to $20,000 along with footballs and T-shirts weekly. All entries will be retained for the grand prize draw of $500,000 cash.
The fixtures and entry forms will be published in Monday's Star and Tuesday's Gleaner and entries are to be dropped off by Thursday of each week at redemption locations across the island.
The second initiative is the Wray & Nephew National Premier League's interactive website. The website is hosted by golocaljamaica.com, a division of The Gleaner Company Ltd., and features news, team profiles, commentaries, player features, game schedule and results, photo gallery, point standings and games and quizzes.
Another interactive initiative is the "Mobile Football". The latest scores and statistics will be accessible from a Digicel or Cable and Wireless cellular phone, anywhere in the world.
