Sulom to drag TNM to court

Sulom has insisted that its contract with TNM is still running until December 2017.

Speaking to the local media, General Secretary Williams Banda said if TNM maintains its decision of pulling out from the deal, Sulom will seek legal assistance.

“The contract is a legal document so we need to seek legal clarity if TNM has withdrawn from contract renewal talks or the current contract.

“TNM and Sulom signed a five-season contract which ends after the 2017 season. This means the contract is still running and if they want to pull out, there are legal implications. TNM still has a season left in the contract,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC), sponsors of Big Bullets FC, has expressed concern over Telekom Networks Malawi’s (TNM) withdrawal of Super League sponsorship with less than a month before the commencement of the 2017 season.

TNM said Tuesday that the decision to pull out from sponsoring the league had something to do with the Competitions and Fair Trading Commission’s (CFTC) stand on the contract signed by TNM and Super League of Malawi (Sulom).

According to TNM, CFTC maintained that the contract with Sulom has unfair trade clauses not good for the development of the game in the country.

And reacting to the development, NMC’s Chairman Konrad Buckle told Malawi24 that losing such a sponsorship is a big blow to Malawian football.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to Sulom to find out the reason why TNM pulled out but FAM and Sulom should take stock of the situation to find out the reason behind this because if they think it’s easy to find such kind of a sponsorship whereby more than K200 million is pumped in per year, then they are joking.

“It all started by one fan who involved CFTC but to lose this kind of sponsorship because of a single person, then there is something wrong with FAM and Sulom. We should at least be grateful for once otherwise losing TNM is a step backward,” he said.

The new season was expected to start on April 8, 2017 with the season curtain-raiser between Super League champions Kamuzu Barracks and runners-up Nyasa Big Bullets slated for April 2 at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.