By Chairman Babadi Kamara
Sierra Leone as a whole is not ready to move football beyond its present level.
We may all agree that yes it is the FA that is charged with the responsibility to run football but they alone can’t do it without the inclusion of every aspect of our society. There are teams struggling in this league which clearly shows how unprepared we are and how we still see football as a game for drop out.
FCFC
SLP
RSLAF
PORT
Kambui Eagles
Diamond Stars
Wusum Stars
Bai Bureh Warriors
Bo Rangers
Edwards
These are teams that are not supposed to be struggling when you consider their ownership.
These teams are suffering because our society is not cohesive and people are only interested in what benefit them and their families and not society as a whole.
All the teams listed above should be budgeted for on annual basis by their respective institutions that owns them.
With a police and military forces with more than 10,000 personnel each, a Le.5,000,000 deduction from source by the accountant general for each officer and deposited straight in to the clubs account will give them a minimum of Le.50,000,000 each on monthly basis. This will the little gate takings will be more than enough to run these clubs.
Wusum Stars, Bo Rangers, Kambui Eagles, BBW should all be budgeted for at district level. Stakeholders from each districts should also be encourage to help their districts teams.
Why would Old Wdwardians be struggling when the have so many alumnus in high places of work.
Other teams like FC Kallon, Blackpool, SLIFA, CP and the rest should be supported by private sectors. There are several banks both locally own and foreign own. These institutions should be encouraged and challenged to take certain clubs. Mobile companies and other private institutions should be helping.
If our league can get support from these institutions and district trust we will have a strong and competitive league.
Look for instance, the national team has no local institution genuinely supporting it. The whole country will wait until when next there is a match for Leone Stars before they will know that there is a team call Leone stars. These issues are not just about the FA. It is a fundamental societal problem. We pay attention only to event but not processes.
With these issues, I pray that we have genuine people and institutions who sees football as a serious and key factor in nation building and national development. At the moment we are only trying.
