AFTER pumping $27 million over three years into St Catherine football, telecommunication giant LIME, in its final days of the deal, said it is very happy with the partnership and his pondering a new package.

Carlo Redwood, LIME’s vice-president of marketing, said his organisation is pleased with the outcome of the partnership, but would not say if the company will continue to sponsor football into the populous Jamaican parish.

“We think it’s an excellent sponsor, with the kind of support we find from the communities coming out to the games and supporting their teams, and that’s what it’s really about,” said Redwood.

He continued: “It’s about the development of the football and we have seen improvement over the last three years. The organisation has been outstanding by the association, so we are exceptionally happy with the sponsorship in our last year.”

Redwood said with all the noted positive LIME will now “continue to look at it and evaluate it to see what’s better for football going forward”.

“It was a development process and when we came in, the community support wasn’t as strong as it is now in terms of organisation of the sport, and having it live on TV, is a testament to that development. So in many ways we have achieved what we have set out in changing the look of football in St Catherine,” Redwood said.

The St Catherine football season came to an exciting climax on Friday at the Spanish Town Prison Oval with Albion beating New Raiders 2-0 to win the Division One League and DB Basovak capturing the Major League title 6-5 on penalties over Christian Pen.

It was a fun-filled day at the Spanish Town Prison Oval with LIME treating the fans to giveaways with one former outstanding footballer Dennis ‘Stylo’ Ebanks winning a BlackBerry handset in a deejaying competition. Special performances came from singers Cherine Anderson and I-Wayne.

“It is really our effort to interact at a grass-roots level with our customers and value every moment. So we talk about developing sports generally with the communities. Sports and entertainment go well together and the Friday night football is a huge success,” said Redwood.

Meanwhile, President of the St Catherine Football Association Peter Reid thanked LIME for the sponsorship over the years, and especially for the accruing exposure for the parish.

“What this three-year sponsorship has done for St Catherine is that it gave us the wherewithal that we were able to plan some good programmes and enhance the competitions,” noted Reid.

“We are grateful for the assistance from LIME in the execution of the sponsorship like the Friday Night Football, and they came in with their entertainment package and brought the fans.

“Overall, we are pleased, and hopefully, we will be given the opportunity to work with LIME in the future,” said Reid.