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Prime Bank's no to BFF

Sports Reporter
Football suffered another blow at the start of 2008 as Prime Bank refused to sponsor Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) this year due its engagement in other sports.
The National Sports Council (NSC) and Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) had taken the initiative by asking different banks to come forward to help the sports federations.
Although some of the banks have already started to negotiate with their allotted federations, the BFF got negative response from the Prime Bank.
"After the NSC and BOA initiative, we had given them a letter in October 2007 and followed by discussions, we also submitted a proposal," informed BFF's communications manager Sayed Al Fatah yesterday.
"However, we have received a letter from the bank which mentions they won't be able to support us this year,” he added.
The BFF’s proposal included 21 events in 2008 for which they need Tk 9.5 crore but Prime Bank's budget for 2008 is not adequate to support the football’s governing body.
"They said that they are sponsoring games like golf, chess and recently joined tennis, which will not allow them to get involved with BFF this year."
"However, if there was any scope, they would come forward, they have promised," the BFF official said.
Many believe that the huge amount of the money forced the bank to walk back even after having three meeting with the BFF. Also, the unsettled condition of the federation with its high-ups running from the scene one after another and the remaining ones losing peoples' faith could be a factor behind the refusal.
BFF's acting general secretary Manzoor Hossain Malu claimed their proposal was not given as a whole but had been prepared tournament by tournament, which
means that the BFF would have agreed to take a chunk of the proposed budget too.
BOA chief operating officer Col (ret) M Waliullah said that the BOA and NSC will now have to sit with the bank and the federation to solve the issue.
Prime Bank's senior vice president Ehsan Habib, however, mentioned that their response did not mean that the door was closed.
"It's not negative. In fact, our budget had been prepared in October 2007. There is very little we can do now. But in near future, we will try our best to accommodate the BFF whenever we get the chance," told Habib.