Mombasa Sports Club will venture into beach cleaning as part of income generation activity for the club once players resume training.
With hard-hitting economic times, team captain Mariano Emadau said the coronavirus pandemic spells doom for the sport as it will be difficult to acquire sponsorship, forcing the team to look for an alternative source of income. With businesses affected, corporates will be reluctant to invest their cash into sports.
As part of the team’s strategy to restore financial sustainability, he said they will also develop packages for partnership within and outside Mombasa.
“Apart from player contribution, beach clean up will boost our finances. We are gearing up for the Ngarisha Beach Initiative, a youthful group made up of players to undertake the exercise at least twice a month. We are targeting Nyali and Pirates beaches to start with before spreading out. Getting sponsorship is hard and as a club, we are already aligning for partnership as we believe this will be crucial to our finances,” she said.
Emadau guided MSC back to the Premier League after a dominant season in the Super League with a second-place finish guaranteeing the team top-flight status. The former St. Peter’s Mumias player, said the Mombasa County-based club is contemplating renaming the Shaban Yusuf tournament that was only changed last year. Previously, it was called the Sanaa tournament.
“It will be a nice idea to rebrand this tourney as many hockey players associated with the club have passed on. Maybe calling it a Memorial Cup or something of the sort will mean well for all the departed souls who diligently served this club. It is a competition that is identified with the club and will be there for a long time.”
MSC was scheduled to play fellow returnees Parkroad Badgers in the opening match on March 28 but will know their opponents once the league resumes with the union planning to review the fixtures.