ORANGE SPONSORED NATIONAL COUNTY SPORTS MEET
—ENDS WITH EXHILARATING WIN FOR LOFA COUNTY
The 2020/2021 National County Sports meet ended in Monrovia earlier this year with a surprise winner – Lofa County. While the Lofians had been passionately optimistic that their team would be victorious, there was little precedence to assume victory. After all, Lofa had simply never won the County Meet since the game was created, and this team which had
never tasted victory was going up against a major heavyweight like Montserrado County.
It is in part the surprise and thrill of the County
This posture of the National Count Sports Meet as an event that brings together the nation is exactly why Minister
of Youth and Sports D.
Zeogar Wilson called it “the great unifier of Liberians.” It is also one of the key reasons why Orange Liberia continues to renew its
commitment every year as the key sponsors of the tournament.
Meet that keeps it positioned as one of the most popular sports activities in Liberia, coming second in terms of the ability to pull crowds only to an international match. The excitement of the games brought together collaborators who work together to provide moral and financial support for their county teams. Nationally, the county meet lived up to its hype of bringing the country together. For the series of days the county meet was held, Liberians put aside socio-economic and political differences and focused their attention on the happening of the games.
This posture of the National County Sports Meet as an event that brings together the nation is exactly why Minister of Youth and Sports
D. Zeogar Wilson called it “the great unifier of Liberians.” It is also one of the key reasons why Orange Liberia continues to renew its
commitment every year as the key sponsors of the tournament.
It is worthy to note that Orange Liberia’s support for football isn’t just limited to the very popular National County Sports meet but also extends
to every facet of Liberian football life, including tens of thousands of dollars of cash and in-kind support for the National Team, The National League, and the Liberia Football Association. So strong is its support for football that even during the Covid outbreak where games were canceled, and companies were withdrawing support for football, Orange Liberia made a generous gesture to continue its support to the LFA to help it support team members during the crisis period. This support for football goes even beyond Liberia as Orange serves as the title sponsor of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) which
is the biggest football league on the continent. Why? Similar to its view on football being a conduit to unify Liberians, the company believes football is the purest way to bring people together no matter the differences.
Making remarks on why Orange continues to invest heavily in football, Mr. Bruno Mettling, CEO of Orange Africa and the Middle East, commented: “These flagship competitions in African football generate an incredible spirit of unity across communities and people, and
Orange is proud to reaffirm its commitment to
supporting football, as we have done for nearly 20 years.”
ORANGE SECTION
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has frequently acknowledged that the support from Orange Liberia has been crucial and at the core of the success of the county meet, stating in part that without support from Orange would have made it challenging to put on a successful event. Since it started sponsoring the County Meet three years ago, Orange Liberia has invested not only financially but also given additional technical and logistical support to ensure the success
of the tournament. Orange Liberia CEO Mr. Jean Marius Yao noted: “our sponsorship of the county meet is not only direct financial support, but we also will provide other support including printing of high-security tickets for the games, promotion, and publicity, as well as thousands of dollars in cash and prizes to our customers and sports fans.”
Even as this year’s county meet comes to a close and Montserrado nurses the wounds of a
humiliating 3 -1 defeat against the Wologisi boys, fans are already hopeful and anticipating the launch of the next edition of the county meet at the end of the year. Who will be the victors of the 2021/2022 games? As the results, this year demonstrates it is anybody’s guess. We will just have to wait and see.