World Cup to be free of sponsorship disputes

World Cup organisers are confident that the tournament will not witness any disputes between rival telecom companies Cable and Wireless and Digicel. Cable and Wireless is one of the official sponsors of the tournament and were the official sponsors of the West Indies team before Digicel took over in 2005.

Penny Commissiong-Chow, the marketing and communications manager of the World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC), said that the organisers were conscious of the issue of ambush marketing and that appropriate steps were being taken to ensure a smooth process.

"We have been very clear as far as ambush marketing is concerned and we want to let all those who are looking to piggyback on other sponsors that they will not be allowed to do so", she told The Trinidad Guardian. "We have the Sunset Legislation in place to deal with this and we expect to have this problem between the two not being a major factor at the event. We have held one ambush marketing seminar. However we are going to keep further sessions like these and we are hoping that everyone complies with the law and keep away from ambush marketing."

Ambush marketing had earlier threatened India's participation in the last World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002. The ICC's Player Terms prevented players from endorsing products which were in direct conflict with the tournament sponsors for a period before and after the tournament, which would have been a loss to the players financially. Similarly, the West Indies has seen similar contract disputes in 2005, where players who had personal endorsements with Cable and Wireless were asked to terminate them if they are to be considered for selection.