Mathare to contest league's action on sponsors' banners

Mathare United chairman Bob Munro has said he will contest the action taken by the Kenyan Premier League to prevent his club from displaying banners of their sponsors in the stadium in their match against Posta Rangers on Sunday.

The SportPesa-sponsored league body prevented Mathare from displaying banners of their new partners, betting firm Betway, at Nyayo Stadium prior to the match kick off over advertisement issues.

An angry Munro said that the league organisers were unfair in their decision to take down the banners, and that he would seek redress immediately from the Independent Disciplines and Complaints Committee.

“It is a worldwide rule that the home team has the advantage of putting up their banners but what KPL did on Sunday was unfair and unwarranted,” he said. Mathare recently signed a partnership with Betway.

The team showed up for their match on Sunday donning Betway branded jerseys for the first time.

KPL chairman Jack Oguda said the league’s deal with SportPesa does not prohibit clubs from entering into partnership with other betting companies, and that an urgent meeting of the Governing Council to discuss this issue will be called.

“Apart from the naming rights, SportPesa are also the official betting partners of the league so I believe that is where the problem is coming from. Clubs can get into partnerships with whichever companies, but the pitch side branding is a little different.

“We have called for a special governing council meeting to discuss this development and to find the best possible solutions,” he said. SportPesa officially became the league’s naming rights holders last year but details of the deal were never made public.

“I was not part of the team from KPL that was involved in negotiations, but I know that the contract does not have any clauses that prohibits individual clubs from engaging other companies,” Munro offered.