http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/art...new-shirt-sponsorship-deal-with-south-african Sunderland has signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with a £6billion food company based in South Africa. BFS Group Limited will become the clubâs new principal partner from season 2013-14. BFS Group is the main UK operation of The Bidvest Group Limited, a global business operating across a range of sectors with over 105,000 employees across four continents. It also operates the largest global foodservice business outside North America and has significant presence in the UK market. BFS Group and Bidvest is the ideal partner for Sunderland AFC, with both organisations sharing a strong heritage in supporting the communities they serve, both in the UK and abroad, championing sport for all and promoting health and wellbeing. For Sunderland AFC, the partnership also aims to build on its growing affiliation with the African continent, kick started by its ground-breaking link up with the Invest in Africa initiative and recent collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The partnership includes sponsoring the playersâ shirts, perimeter advertising and involvement from the players in local community events in the UK. The Bidvest Group also owns Bidvest Wits, one of the largest football clubs on the African continent and Sunderland AFC will be able to share coaching and business expertise with the South African club. Sunderland AFC chief executive Margaret Byrne said: âWe are absolutely delighted to be entering into a partnership with The BFS Group and Bidvest. The groupsâ credentials in terms of community support are akin to our own and this takes our club to a whole new level in terms of its international commercial activity. âWhilst Sunderland will always be a club defined by its proud regional history and heritage, in order for the club to continue to move forward, building our reputation and presence internationally becomes a key focus. âI am sure this will be a very fruitful partnership for both parties.â Bidvestâs Brian Joffe, said: âSunderland AFC is the perfect partner for us in the UK where we deliver food and drink to over 50,000 businesses each week. The support that Sunderland AFC offers to their local community, setting up the Foundation of Light and now supporting development of initiatives further afield mirrors the Bidvest spirit of investing time and funds back into the markets we operate in.â Sunderland AFC has quickly established itself as one of the most recognised English clubs across Africa in recent seasons. Its ground-breaking link-up with Invest in Africa in January 2012 afforded a springboard to the ground-breaking not-for-profit initiative to promote Africa as a leading investment destination and actively challenge misconceptions about investing on the continent. The club also recently announced a partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, a first in world football. Lets hope their is a good sponsorship fee involved...
Good news that we have finally sorted out the new sponsor, but does anyone else think it ironic that there is a food company valued at £6b based on a continent where the majority of the population are starving? Just a thought....
Suppose most people will recognise them in this country as 3663 food services. Country wide but have a big depot in Gateshead.
This is their logo please log in to view this image I'm not sure the colours will go too well with red and white
Think it'll look ok, imagine there'll be a break in the stripes so its on a white background and not over the stripes
Last bit!!! All very well saying "£6bn company" but how much are they giving us?!!! Are we going to have the BFS stadium next season?
Well, £20million last year, and as I understand there are 2 years on that deal, some crazy situation when we 'pause' our IIA deal to allow other African businesses exposure. So, if it's 800k and free snacks in the vending machines, we fluffed it like!
Yeah mate, it's 20million over 4 years with optional breaks which we're taking advantage of. For 20m over 4 years then this has to be at least 5m for this season or it not worth doing is it?
Rather bizarrely, the vast majority of people in Africa are NOT starving. Huge problems in parts of Africa, for sure, but the majority of people there have enough to eat.
Ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in world at the moment. Feed their citizens? Nah, accept the aid though eh? Ha ha! Crazy!
Check out the notts county strip as they sponsered by 3663 and they ave a a strip with stripes on it. same sponser as the mags who wud of thought it eh
On the whole, Africa is on the up. Its by no means perfect but countries like Namibia are doing pretty well. Problem isn't with the countries themselves but with the international aid scheme. Most countries rely on aid from the IMF and world bank which have massive conditions by which they lend money. It's western countries like us that are enforcing certain conditions on post conflict countries that means that they cant develop more efficiently. Somewhat counter-intuitively rapid economic liberalisation and democratisation means that existing cleavages are further exacerbated because of the inherent competition in democracy and capitalism. I just wrote an exam question exactly answering these questions. Can you tell?
