By Mohamed T Massaquoi.
The Pujehun District Football Association (PDFA) has pulled out of this year's Airtel Rising Stars competition scheduled for 10 July, 2014 in the eastern town of Kenema.
The Secretary General of the association, Mohamed Koroma disclosed to Politico that they were withdrawing because of the presence of Ebola in the east of the country. "The health of our players is the most paramount concern to us" he said.
Koroma said they had already informed the organisers of their decision.
He said concerns were raised by both the players and their parents who spoke against staging the competition in the eastern region which is experiencing the Ebola disease.
According to him, they have four teams that qualified for the competition including a female football team known as Wanjama Queens., adding "we were well prepared for the competition but the only obstacle to our participation is the presence of Ebola in the host district".
Koroma denied lack of funds was responsible for their withdrawal. He told Politico that "all expenditures including transportation, accommodation, feeding among several others are the sole responsibility of Airtel...We will be putting our district at risk of Ebola if we decided to take part in the competition as long as Kailahun which remains the epicenter of the Ebola disease is taking part in the competition."
He also dismissed suggestions that they were pulling out because they were not well prepared for the tournament, saying, "in previous Airtel competitions we emerged as the second best and one of our players Patrick Binda even travelled to Tanzania for another competition".
The Secretary General said the only condition under which they would take part in the competition was if Airtel staged the competition among districts in the same region.
This is the fourth season of Airtel Rising Stars in Africa, which is a talent search for young promising footballers to showcase their skills.
Open to both boys and girls between ages 13 – 17 years, it is held in 12 countries - Gabon, Congo Brazaville, Congo DR, Kenya, Tanzania, Niger, Seychelles, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Chad, Malawi and Burkina Faso.
The competition is set to run in each country up to July when each country will put together two "dream teams" of boys and girls, to compete in the 2014 ARS Africa Championship, set to take place in Gabon this year in August.
The organisers who declined to give a reaction, were locked up in a meeting last evening as we went to press.
(C) Politico 24/06/14
