Soca Warriors' merchandise on sale Monday
Kern De Freitas
Tuesday, January 31st 2006
trinidadexpress
From as early as Monday, members of the public can start collecting their official "Soca Warriors" memorabilia ahead of the national team's debut at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany in June.
Yesterday, T&T Germany 2006 launched their official "Soca Warriors" merchandise and announced the authorised distributors as Standard Distributors Ltd, York Garments Ltd and KFC.
Patrons can purchase official caps and T-shirts bearing the Soca Warriors' shield and logo from next week, with other items, such as key chains, bottle openers, bottle coolers, travel mugs, beer mugs, handbags and cell phone cases being introduced by the end of February.
KFC will be offering Soca Warriors copybooks, visors and posters only.
"...We are not only launching a range of football-related merchandise, but memorabilia of a proud, historic moment for Trinidad and Tobago," Trinidad and Tobago senior team manager Bruce Aanansen told the gathering yesterday at the memorabilia launch at the cinema lobby of Movie Towne, Invaders Bay.
"People will wear these items or own them with pride. It becomes the way we individually connect to our national team's presence upon the hallowed football fields of the largest, most exciting sporting event on the Earth, the FIFA World Cup," said Aanansen.
Purchasers of the Soca Warriors memorabilia will also be supporting the national footballers, as a substantial percentage of earnings from sales will go directly towards the players themselves, according to Aanansen.
"It is important to note here that these distributors have agreed to contribute significant portions of the sales of these items back to the Soca Warriors," Aanansen disclosed.
"In fact, the minimum return on the sale price of items such as T-shirts and caps would be 49 per cent."
Aanensen also announced that 30 per cent of the proceeds will "go to the player's pool for the benefit of the players".
The T&T manager also warned against unlicensed entities producing items that do not bear the Soca Warriors official shield and logo, as well as that of the T&TFF, saying there have already been cases where such retailers are even using the phrase, 'part proceds go towards the Soca Warriors', adding that the Federation's legal team was looking at that situation.
"There is no relationship between the T&TFF, the Soca Wariors, and those items which are sold by any distributor other than those announced today," he stressed.
"We urge members of the public not to support the sale of fake merchandise which robs members of the national team of their hard-earned, well-deserved incentives."
In addition to the accessories launched yesterday, T&T Germany 2006 co-ordinator Peter O'Connor revealed the official replica adidas kit is soon to arrive in Trinidad and Tobago next month, giving a likely date of February 10.
FIFA will also be releasing a "limited quantity" of official Germany 2006 items for retail in T&T.
Official T&T Soca Warriors merchandise can be purchased from the following outlets: Standard Distributors (ANSA House; Queen and Henry Sts; Princes Town; Grand Bazaar; Western Main Road; Coffee St; High St; Old Blanchisseuse Rd; the Croisee; and Milford Road, Tobago) and York Garments (El Socorro; Abercromby St; Frederick St; Piarco International Airport; and Crown Point Airport).
