Cape Town - South African bookmaker Hollywoodbets has signed on as the new sponsor of the popular Phaka rugby show.

The show is hosted by Kaunda Ntunja and is presented in both English and Xhosa.

Practically Hollywoodbets’ new sponsorship relationship with Phaka will allow the company to assist development rugby teams who desperately need the support and equipment to be able to able to grow their talented players.

Hollywoodbets already has a reputation for being actively involved in developing South African sport from a grassroots level. The company contributes to various soccer teams and community tournaments based near their operations around the country. KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial cricket team, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins, have also been proud members of the purple family for the past four years.

The company first started making inroads into rugby in 2018 when they signed on as the title sponsor of the oldest knockout rugby tournament in the world - the Murray Cup based in KZN. This successful sponsorship spurred them on to seek further opportunities to help grow the sport of rugby.

Ntunja is looking forward to what this collaboration will unlock for the sport.

“Phaka and Hollywoodbets share a similar vision. We both want to see people from underprivileged backgrounds thrive once given an opportunity to do so. The thing that really excites me about the partnership is that many rugby clubs and players from underprivileged backgrounds will benefit from this partnership. Hollywoodbets will provide the means to assist, while Phaka will earmark the areas and the people that desperately need the leg up to thrive in the sport that they love. It is important for companies to get involved with rugby at grassroots level because the Springboks of tomorrow come from there. All they need is an opportunity to showcase their talents. Without assistance these hidden gems will be lost to us forever!” said Ntunja.

Media and Communications Executive at Hollywoodbets Devin Heffer is eager to start putting more weight behind supporting SA rugby.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Phaka in helping to discover and empower talented players. We believe that it’s vital to assist those who have great potential but struggle to reach it because of obstacles like lack of equipment or funding. As Hollywoodbets we want to do our part to ensure that rugby teams at all levels become more representative of all South Africans,” he said.

The first Hollywoodbets-sponsored Phaka show will air on Tuesday, February 12, 2019.