The Businesses That Backed a Club With No History

In early 2026 we were asking local businesses to sponsor a cricket club that had never played a league match. No results, no photographs, no history — just an incorporation certificate and a plan. Eight of them said yes anyway.

That season has now finished: 26 T30 matches across two London leagues, a run to the London Premier League Division 2 semi-final in our debut year, sixth place in the LCL T30 Premier Division, the League's Fair Play Award, and its Division 2 Best Bowler. None of that happens without the people below.

Title Sponsor

• Bhupinder Singh — Realtor, Century 21 First Canadian Corp., London. Our first and largest sponsor, and the one who backed us earliest, when backing us was the least obvious decision.

Gold Sponsors

• Freddy George — Financial Advisor, London.
• Ashvak Sheik — Future Nest Realty, London.
• RabyIT — Accounting Services, London.

Community Partners

• MakZiN Media — Software development, London.
• Sai Thai Chef — Authentic Thai cuisine, London.
• Curry Culture Bistro — Authentic Indian cuisine, Kitchener.
• Kover Drive — Cricket equipment and gear.

What it actually paid for

Sponsorship is not decoration on a jersey. It is the difference between a club existing and not existing. In practical terms it paid our league entry fees for two competitions, the permits for the grounds we played on, our field insurance, the indoor facility hire that kept us training through a London winter, and the shared kit bag that means a player who has just arrived in Canada can walk onto a field without buying $600 of equipment first.

That last one matters more than it sounds. A large part of our squad moved to London in the last few years. For a lot of them the club is how they met people in this city. The businesses above paid for the bats and the ground time that made those introductions possible.

To each of you

Thank you. You took a risk on an unproven club in its first year, and the club repaid it with a semi-final and an award for how it conducted itself. We hope that reads as a decent return.

We will be in touch about 2027, and we would be glad to have every one of you back.

If you are a business reading this

We are looking for partners for the 2027 season. The tiers, what is included, and an honest account of what we can and cannot offer are at challengerscc.ca/sponsorship. One date worth knowing: jerseys go to print at the start of March, so anything confirmed before then carries a logo on the kit for the whole season.

We are a federal not-for-profit, not a registered charity, so we cannot issue a charitable tax receipt — and we will tell you that up front rather than let you find out later. What we can offer is a genuine local association and a straight account of where your money went.