By Isaac Massaquoi
Barring any catastrophic last minute collapse, Diamond Stars of Kono will be crowned champions of the Sierra Leone Premier League football this weekend. This will represent a remarkable turn-around in the fortunes of a provincial team known for producing some of the best players in this country but had fallen badly off the cliff due to the war and lack of investment.
With massive capital injection by the diamond mining company, Koidu Holdings leading to the signing of an almost entirely new squad and a coach, Diamond Stars are back on the national stage in a very big way.
I am a strong supporter of East End Lions but I have to admit that besides Diamond Stars, Central Parade are a fantastic side that look set to go places in the coming SPL season. They are like Arsene Wenger’s team without Robin Van Persie – they defend reasonably well, they are masters of mid-field play but suffer from a palpable lack of ambition up-front.
Umaru Fofana should be very pleased to read this. He has deep roots in Kono and is a great admirer of the flair of Central Parade. I hear he is looking to formally join them.
That said, I feel there are a few issues I must put on the table as we look forward to the start of the new season in October.
THE PREMIER LEAGUE BOARD (PLB)
The PLB was an innovative attempt by football stakeholders to out-source the responsibility of running the national league. It offered the SLFA the chance to bring in fresh hands into the management of the game. I sat on the inaugural board chaired by Alpha Timbo. It was a difficult experience and there were times when I felt there was no need carrying on. The SLFA’s financial support to the board was like dropping a coin in the Atlantic Ocean and raising funds from the few corporate bodies in Freetown is not a job anybody should look forward to.
Understandably, the corporate bodies are inundated with sponsorship requests by all sorts of people and organisation – churches, youth groups, university social clubs and marauding politicians all come knocking at the doors crying Corporate Social Responsibility. In Sierra Leone, this jargon is not well defined. And it’s probably good for the corporate bodies because the confusion helps them hold back vital tax money and the whole nation suffers.
At some point during this league the PLB announced they were suspending the game for lack of money and once again the country was in the world headlines for the wrong reason. At the last minute, Mercury International offered a lifeline that ensured we got to this stage.
THE SLFA
Perhaps one of the most battered institutions in Sierra Leone is the SLFA. Listen to any sport program on the many radio stations and you are left with the conclusion that the FA will collapse the next minute. I have to say that the FA is the architect of its own destruction. Some of its members are busy briefing the media against their colleagues. I find it hard to understand why.
In my days on the PLB, we attempted to deal with disciplinary problems at football venues around the country. In one of our meetings we discussed match reports that were nothing but disgraceful considering those involved, the extent to which they were prepared to go to bring the game into disrepute and the woeful inability of the SLFA’s disciplinary committee to act decisively even in the face of overwhelming evidence and growing public outcry.
A few minutes after the meeting, in which we issued fines and suspensions, I received a call from at least two club officials reprimanded and fined in that meeting. They first told me they were “very disappointed” with me for some of the comments I made at the meeting. One of them recited a few lines from my arguments and gave me what I think was a real tongue-lashing. I sat quietly listening and thinking, who might have committed this appalling breach of confidentiality and decency. Then the second man came on line and told me I should not expect them to behave in front of me like my students. He said the SLFA would overturn our decision. The person who betrayed the committee in that way is still at the FA. By the way, our disciplinary actions were overturned as promised. From then on, I was under no illusion about the kind of organisation I was doing this voluntary job for. I prayed for our tenure to end.
ORGANISATION OF THE LEAGUE
This year the league was delayed for reasons already established apart from the fact that the earlier PLB resigned en-masse when, according to them, it became impossible to function. The FA must realize that organising the league is their most important responsibility and if they out-source it to the PLB, their funding for that key responsibility must be matched by its very nature. How can the SLFA ever think that ten thousand Euros was enough seed money to run a two round league? How can the SLFA abandon its responsibility to raise funds for the league just because they have appointed a PLB? In the end, running the league is the responsibility of the SLFA and only they are accountable to the people of Sierra Leone.
THE NATIONAL STADIUM AS A VENUE
As a venue for the SPL, the National Stadium is fast becoming unsuitable. This paper has published a lot about the unsanitary conditions of the stadium. From players urinating all over the place, to some of the filthiest toilets anywhere in the world - it’s almost as if nobody is in charge. There’s a stadium management in place but the people can’t get the services they pay for.
The presidential pavilion is the worst place these days. Hardly a game goes by without club officials, supporters and known anarchists engaging in open fights to the disgust of some of the most respectable supporters both foreign and local who go to the stadium to have a good day out and watch the local game grow.
The point must also be made that the body called Stadium Management does a very bad job running the place and has no business holding down their jobs. I have seen situations when two primary schools are having athletics meets simultaneously and two premier league sides waiting to kick off at 5pm. On at least two occasions, police threw the children out of the field even before trophies were distributed. Some disgusted parents were engaged in open fights with the police. No stadium managers were around. They collect money from anybody who walks through their doors without regard to the SPL programs. This can’t continue. The children have a right to use stadium as much as the SPL. Let people do their jobs running the stadium. The SLFA has no alternative venues.
DISCIPLINE
We have just ended a football season that witnessed a shocking lack of discipline from the most unlikely quarters – team doctors, welfare officers and highly experienced players. The PLB recently issued reprimands after a lot of soul-searching. This list of offenders makes interesting reading. This is an issue I will take on in subsequent editions because I think we have to be courageous enough to say certain things the way they are to some people. My comments will be based on things I saw for myself because I watched more than 90% of all SPL matches in Freetown so I don’t have to depend on PLB rulings to make my comments. In fact I feel their actions are timid.
REFEREEING
On the whole I think the referees did well. I heard a lot of conspiracy theories about their performance but that’s something to expect especially from bad losers who out of arrogance and disrespect of others feel they should win at all times. This should not excuse some atrocious decisions I saw myself that ruined some matches. I know interpreting the offside rule is not the easiest in football but for goodness’ sakes, some referees opened themselves up to a lot of questions. I was told they have a body overseeing their performance but I am waiting to see them bring their colleagues to book. It makes no sense to cover each other in an old boys’ club mentality while everybody else knows there are rotten eggs among you.
MATCH ATTENDANCE
Match attendances picked up sporadically during the league, depending on which teams were playing. But it is still disgracefully low. The PLB and indeed the teams themselves have a lot of work to do to bring people back. The PLB must work with the stadium management to fix match times in a way that people are able to go to work and then spend a quiet evening watching football in a good and clean stadium where people respected the decision of match officials and supporters behaved themselves.
THE SPORT MEDIA
I have kept this for the last because I want the SLFA to take this home. I think many sport journalists are doing well to promote the local game. And they deserve commendation. I have to say however that a content analysis of many sport programs leaves one with the conviction that many of the presenters have far more time than they need on air. Their stations are too generous and to some extent they are taking their listeners for granted. To assume that I am going to be seated in one place listening to stories about the FA doing this and doing that borders on arrogance of the worst kind. There is far too much attention on the goings-on inside the FA over the actual reporting of the teams and their players. That is what neutrals like us are interested in.
There is a sense in which some of the speculative sports journalism that takes place in Freetown is helping to drive people from the stadium. That’s a fact.
I am waiting for the new season to begin.
