UNDER A banner titled 'Unveiling New Beginnings', Portmore United Football Club made two significant moves to enhance its development on Tuesday night.
The two-time Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) champions have teamed up with media sports and entertainment group Sports Logic and have commitments for a full sponsorship deal with international football gear manufacturers Umbro for the next NPL season.
The club is actually benefiting from its Umbro partnership already through the provision of gear, but Carl Chang, managing director of Western Sports,
the local distributors of their products, says the real Umbro deal will kick-in next season.
"The full association with the club will be for next season so the details for the contract will not be given until then," Chang told The Gleaner following a briefing at the Hilton hotel.
He added: "This is a commitment to a full sponsorship. Our association with the club right now is in a preliminary stage."
In an earlier presentation, Chang stated that Portmore United represented "... what we needed to bring Umbro out of the closet in Jamaica."
MANAGEMENT BOOST
Pointing to its 'management team, structure and coaching staff', he added that, as the brand's representative, he "never saw what we wanted in the other teams."
That management staff has been bolstered by Sports Logic, whose other executives are
former Test cricket world
record holder for wickets
taken, Courtney Walsh, former JFF treasurer and Corporate Merchant Bank general manager Howard McIntosh, Bobby Polack and Delroy and Wayne Sinclair.
Its chief executive officer, Wayne Sinclair, said the partnership with the club is not only for the companies involved, but the community on a whole.
"It's about getting the community involved, bettering the
community," he stressed.
They handed the club a cheque valued at $2.5-million which McIntosh says is a downpayment.
Portmore United have been a fixture in the NPL top four in recent years and won the championship two seasons ago. In the current campaign for the 2004-05 title, they lead the overall and second-round points standings. They originated in Clarendon under the name Hazard United near 20 years ago, and moved to Portmore after winning their second title in the 2002-03 season.
