South African courier service RAM is “seriously considering” its position as title sponsor of the country’s domestic Twenty20 tournament the T20 Challenge Series amid the match-fixing scandal enveloping the competition.
On Monday, Cricket South Africa (CSA) imposed a 20-year ban on former national team player Gulam Bodi after he admitted to contriving or attempting to fix matches during last year’s edition of the tournament, and RAM feels its brand may be tarnished as a result of the scandal.
RAM has been a partner of the tournament, which is officially known as the RAM Slam T20, since 2013. Discussions with CSA over the sponsorship of this year’s edition of the competition are currently ongoing. RAM has the option to extend its sponsorship of the tournament by another year.
“RAM Hand-to-Hand Couriers is well known as the sponsor of the RAM Slam T20 and notes with concern the allegations in relation to match-fixing during the 2015 RAM Slam,” Alan Da Costa, RAM’s legal and commercial executive director, told the Sport24 website.
“We are hopeful that CSA is taking every measure to comprehensively investigate the allegations and enforce a ‘zero tolerance’ approach. However no one ever wants their brand associated with dishonest activities and we are seriously considering the outcome of the matter before renewing our sponsorship.”