The Executive Chairman of Bo Rangers Football Club has called on the Sierra Leone Football Association to organize a national retreat on football to chart a new path for the success of the game in this country with particular attention to the condition of Premier League clubs.
In comments widely shared on social media, Babadi Kamara “there are clubs struggling in this league which clearly shows how unprepared we are and how we still see football as a game for dropouts and people with little or no means to do things”. He said this was not only a challenge for the Sierra Leone Football Association, but the whole country.
Kamara mentioned 10 Premier League clubs that, according to him, shouldn’t be struggling for funds. He said: “take the following clubs as example - Freetown City Football Club, FCFC, Sierra Leone Police, Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, Ports Authority, Kambui Eagles of Kenema, Diamond Stars of Kono, Wusum Stars of Bombali, Bai Bureh Warriors of Portloko, Bo Rangers and Old Edwardians. These are clubs that are not supposed to be struggling when one considers their ownership. These teams are suffering because our society is not cohesive and people are only interested in what benefits them and their families and not necessarily the society as a whole”.
He specifically referred to clubs owned by government institutions and agencies including the Sierra Leone Police and the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces because “with more than 10,000 personnel each, a Le.5, 000, 00 deductions from source by the Accountant General for each officer and deposited straight into the bank account of the clubs, assures them of a minimum of Le.50, 000,000 each on monthly basis. This amount, added to the little gate takings will be more than enough to run these clubs”.
Kamara said district clubs like “Wusum Stars, Bo Rangers, Kambui Eagles, Bai Bureh Warriors should be budgeted for at district level by the local councils and stakeholders from each district should also be encouraged to help their district teams. Why would Old Edwardians be struggling when they have so many past pupils in high places of work’?
The Bo Rangers boss also called for corporate sponsorships by banks and telecommunication organizations while reminding Premier League clubs to prioritize small donations.
Kamara who is also the manager of the national football team, Leone Stars expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that “there is no local institution genuinely supporting Leone Stars. The whole country would normally wait until the eve of the next international engagement before they begin talking about the national football team. These issues are not just about the SLFA and their attitude to the game; it’s a fundamental societal problem. We pay attention only to events but not processes”.
Drawing from his personal experience at Premier Leaders, Bo Rangers, he said: “I took over Bo Rangers with average gate takings of 5,000,000, Leones. We made it competitive and with a relatively good playing field we have recorded Le.124, 000,000 Le.90, 000,000, Le.80, 000,000 and many more. We hardly drop below Le.25, 000,000 now per match. When we play in Freetown, people go to watch us more than how they do to certain Freetown-based teams .When we think the problems are more than the solutions then we will defeat ourselves. Those are challenges that genuine inclusivity and dialogue can deal with”.
Attempts to reach Noel Horton who heads the Club Owners Association proved unsuccessful up to the time of going to press.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (25/02/22)
