Which Gambian teams should GFF prioritise?
By Sang Mendy
Mr GFF President, if only my views will be considered important out of the views of over 1.7m Gambians, let me begin by asking these questions and possibly find answers to them. What levels of national teams should The Gambia prioritise? Why should The Gambia focus on those national teams? What should be done to make those national teams put smiles on every Gambian’s face and who should do what?
Knowing that funding national team activities can be very expensive, it will be wise first decide on which national team is best suited to enter into competitions. And to know this we must first answer the question why are we registering into this competition and then measure our chances to succeed. The answers we got from asking these questions must be genuine and concrete and must be realistic as well. If we genuinely cannot measure our success and the reason for entering the competition then we must cross a red line to that competition and try another one. Whatever competition in my view The Gambia should enter into as of now, should be a competition that will allow our teams to grow from one stage to another.
So in my view, I think The Gambia should enter into three competitions or should I just say the Gambia Football Federation and its partners or stakeholders should hold on to three national teams as a matter of priority. These are the U-16, U-19 and U-23. Why do I talked about U-16 and U19 instead of U 17. These new categories will allow most of the players there to stay longer together and possibly play more together. This is what most European teams present at U-17 championships. But again if I say U-16, I am not referring to mature players who spent three or four years in our league clubs. It is my believe that very few Gambians can play in the national league at the age of 16. I have played, coached and administer football at youth level so I know and have seen players grow from 8-18years at an academy. Not only have I worked within football as a coach and administrator, I also report about the game for over a dozen years now and also have a four year sting as a Physical Education teacher at an Upper and Senior Secondary School. So don't question my knowledge on the growth of Gambian players.
Coming back to my topic, The Gambia can be the second smallest country after Cape Verde to grace the African Cup of Nations. But only if we refocus and prioritise our needs just like a market woman or a shopper with less money will do. When you have budget constraints, you look at your needs and tie your needs to the budget. This is what economics dictate.
In fact there is a bigger chance of success and glory if we focus on these national teams. This brings up the question: why these national teams and not the senior national team that help place a nation in the Fifa Coco-Cola ranking? Well the Fifa ranking may be very important but I think to be ranked high without even been able to attract teams to play friendlies with you during international breaks is not worthless. We must invest and build on these national teams heavily, to make progression to the senior national team easier and who said if we build with concrete cement and gravel we won't have a solid team to compete in Africa and possibly the world”,.
Much as we should stick to our watch word 'Catching them young', we must also add 'Keeping them together' as another important catchword, because it is obvious that catching them young and letting them scatter will only keep us at square one.
It is also very logical that maintaining them together means providing them with lots of incentives and opportunities to play local and international test matches in the form of camps. These will increase their chances of growing with confidence and getting to know each other better, something many sports analysts believe is key to success.
The Gambia has purportedly built some solid U-17s and U-20s previously but ten years down the line when many people were expecting these players to qualify the country to the major continental championship, they put up lackluster performances and now most of them are nearing the end of their careers.
In as much as we need to prioritise the youth teams, we also need to put in place a target and a concrete plan of how to get there. This of course should come along with cost of camping, wages, travel and allowances for both players and coaches. Talent is definitely abound and needs to be tapped and nurtured, but attention should also be given to maintaining these talents. I am sure that scouting U-16s and U-18s won't be difficult because we can get them in schools, football academies and from our 'Nawettan' centres across the country. As for the U-23, we have a pool of players home and abroad to put in this team. The coach responsible for picking the players will have a luxury of swimming in the pool of talents, but again he will have sleepless nights making decisions because he will be spoilt for choice. This U-23 team can represent The Gambia in the competition and proceed to the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and eventually the 2019, when they would have reached their peak.
If we cannot maintain them by organisinig friendly matches and taking them to training camps, then we better forget about the CHAN or qualifying to the African Cup of Nations sooner or even later. It is without doubt that nations that spend more time preparing and more are likely to do better than nations who spend money only when competitions are around.
Unless we begin to prepare well we cannot hope to rub shoulders with the big money spenders. I am not saying that once we spend, we will get the results coming our way but if we spend wisely with plans and priorities, we will definitely one day be a force to reckon with. Every Gambian today likes making reference to Cape Verde but have we ever ask, what have they done right to be a well-known footballing nation? I bet most of us never did. The football federation and or the ministry of youth and sports must definitely pay a study tour to this Island state of only 500 000 people to see what they have done and how much they invested on infrastructure, training and development of the game.
It is an open secret that money is needed to achieve excellence in sports so the question of who should do what will always come to play. Well, it is also an open secret that investing in sports most especially football is creating employment so to me all stakeholders should put their resources together. Fifa and Caf can support the growth of the game to some extent but they have clearly stated that their money is not for supporting national teams but for the growth of the game. This leaves the national team in the hands of government. It is without doubt that the government of The Gambia and on a personal note President Jammeh contributed immensely to the game. I am still convinced that when the GFF developed a good programme- I mean a programme that is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound) the government through the ministry of youth and sports will support it. We must invest heavily into our national teams especially if we are building for the future. On the other hand, the GFF marketing team should also engage potential sponsors of our national teams to ease the burden on government. We have seen periods when local sponsors partly helped in the logistics of our national teams and these sponsors can be encouraged to come on board as we build a team to compete in Africa. This can only be done if we can convince the sponsors. We can also engage firms that associate with football associations or the federation in sponsoring and equipping national teams for possible partnership. It might be hard to do but these in my view are the ways to have and maintain national teams. We need government’s support financially and sponsorship packages from both local and international brands.
We must all try to answer the questions above or design better questions and try to answer them to re-energise our desire to making our first African Cup of Nations appearance. If we don't ask and attempt to provide tangible answers to these questions, we might remain in an illusion and mere supporters of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Algeria and the list goes on and on. That is not what I want. I want to watch my Gambia play in the Cup of Nations. This is what will make me proud. Gambia is 50 years old this month and we have the potential to be there. But we must plan to be there and to stay long there like Cape Verde are doing. Since they tasted the cup of nations they have been regulars. The investment we put in our football must be visible for everyone to see.
Happy birthday Gambia at 50.
Sang Mendy is a Teaching Assistant, GPU School of Journalism, Sports Producer/Presenter, City Limits Radio and Journalism Student, at the University Of The Gambia.
Mr GFF President, if only my views will be considered important out of the views of over 1.7m Gambians, let me begin by asking these questions and possibly find answers to them. What levels of national teams should The Gambia prioritise? Why should The Gambia focus on those national teams? What should be done to make those national teams put smiles on every Gambian’s face and who should do what?
Knowing that funding national team activities can be very expensive, it will be wise first decide on which national team is best suited to enter into competitions. And to know this we must first answer the question why are we registering into this competition and then measure our chances to succeed. The answers we got from asking these questions must be genuine and concrete and must be realistic as well. If we genuinely cannot measure our success and the reason for entering the competition then we must cross a red line to that competition and try another one. Whatever competition in my view The Gambia should enter into as of now, should be a competition that will allow our teams to grow from one stage to another.
So in my view, I think The Gambia should enter into three competitions or should I just say the Gambia Football Federation and its partners or stakeholders should hold on to three national teams as a matter of priority. These are the U-16, U-19 and U-23. Why do I talked about U-16 and U19 instead of U 17. These new categories will allow most of the players there to stay longer together and possibly play more together. This is what most European teams present at U-17 championships. But again if I say U-16, I am not referring to mature players who spent three or four years in our league clubs. It is my believe that very few Gambians can play in the national league at the age of 16. I have played, coached and administer football at youth level so I know and have seen players grow from 8-18years at an academy. Not only have I worked within football as a coach and administrator, I also report about the game for over a dozen years now and also have a four year sting as a Physical Education teacher at an Upper and Senior Secondary School. So don't question my knowledge on the growth of Gambian players.
Coming back to my topic, The Gambia can be the second smallest country after Cape Verde to grace the African Cup of Nations. But only if we refocus and prioritise our needs just like a market woman or a shopper with less money will do. When you have budget constraints, you look at your needs and tie your needs to the budget. This is what economics dictate.
In fact there is a bigger chance of success and glory if we focus on these national teams. This brings up the question: why these national teams and not the senior national team that help place a nation in the Fifa Coco-Cola ranking? Well the Fifa ranking may be very important but I think to be ranked high without even been able to attract teams to play friendlies with you during international breaks is not worthless. We must invest and build on these national teams heavily, to make progression to the senior national team easier and who said if we build with concrete cement and gravel we won't have a solid team to compete in Africa and possibly the world”,.
Much as we should stick to our watch word 'Catching them young', we must also add 'Keeping them together' as another important catchword, because it is obvious that catching them young and letting them scatter will only keep us at square one.
It is also very logical that maintaining them together means providing them with lots of incentives and opportunities to play local and international test matches in the form of camps. These will increase their chances of growing with confidence and getting to know each other better, something many sports analysts believe is key to success.
The Gambia has purportedly built some solid U-17s and U-20s previously but ten years down the line when many people were expecting these players to qualify the country to the major continental championship, they put up lackluster performances and now most of them are nearing the end of their careers.
In as much as we need to prioritise the youth teams, we also need to put in place a target and a concrete plan of how to get there. This of course should come along with cost of camping, wages, travel and allowances for both players and coaches. Talent is definitely abound and needs to be tapped and nurtured, but attention should also be given to maintaining these talents. I am sure that scouting U-16s and U-18s won't be difficult because we can get them in schools, football academies and from our 'Nawettan' centres across the country. As for the U-23, we have a pool of players home and abroad to put in this team. The coach responsible for picking the players will have a luxury of swimming in the pool of talents, but again he will have sleepless nights making decisions because he will be spoilt for choice. This U-23 team can represent The Gambia in the competition and proceed to the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and eventually the 2019, when they would have reached their peak.
If we cannot maintain them by organisinig friendly matches and taking them to training camps, then we better forget about the CHAN or qualifying to the African Cup of Nations sooner or even later. It is without doubt that nations that spend more time preparing and more are likely to do better than nations who spend money only when competitions are around.
Unless we begin to prepare well we cannot hope to rub shoulders with the big money spenders. I am not saying that once we spend, we will get the results coming our way but if we spend wisely with plans and priorities, we will definitely one day be a force to reckon with. Every Gambian today likes making reference to Cape Verde but have we ever ask, what have they done right to be a well-known footballing nation? I bet most of us never did. The football federation and or the ministry of youth and sports must definitely pay a study tour to this Island state of only 500 000 people to see what they have done and how much they invested on infrastructure, training and development of the game.
It is an open secret that money is needed to achieve excellence in sports so the question of who should do what will always come to play. Well, it is also an open secret that investing in sports most especially football is creating employment so to me all stakeholders should put their resources together. Fifa and Caf can support the growth of the game to some extent but they have clearly stated that their money is not for supporting national teams but for the growth of the game. This leaves the national team in the hands of government. It is without doubt that the government of The Gambia and on a personal note President Jammeh contributed immensely to the game. I am still convinced that when the GFF developed a good programme- I mean a programme that is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound) the government through the ministry of youth and sports will support it. We must invest heavily into our national teams especially if we are building for the future. On the other hand, the GFF marketing team should also engage potential sponsors of our national teams to ease the burden on government. We have seen periods when local sponsors partly helped in the logistics of our national teams and these sponsors can be encouraged to come on board as we build a team to compete in Africa. This can only be done if we can convince the sponsors. We can also engage firms that associate with football associations or the federation in sponsoring and equipping national teams for possible partnership. It might be hard to do but these in my view are the ways to have and maintain national teams. We need government’s support financially and sponsorship packages from both local and international brands.
We must all try to answer the questions above or design better questions and try to answer them to re-energise our desire to making our first African Cup of Nations appearance. If we don't ask and attempt to provide tangible answers to these questions, we might remain in an illusion and mere supporters of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Algeria and the list goes on and on. That is not what I want. I want to watch my Gambia play in the Cup of Nations. This is what will make me proud. Gambia is 50 years old this month and we have the potential to be there. But we must plan to be there and to stay long there like Cape Verde are doing. Since they tasted the cup of nations they have been regulars. The investment we put in our football must be visible for everyone to see.
Happy birthday Gambia at 50.
Sang Mendy is a Teaching Assistant, GPU School of Journalism, Sports Producer/Presenter, City Limits Radio and Journalism Student, at the University Of The Gambia.
No room for hooliganism in 2014 Super Nawettan
By Sang Mendy
Super Nawettan is arguably Gambia's most watched sporting event but hooliganism usually paint the football tournament dappled to the dislike of the players, fans, technicians, organisers, sponsors, the football and state authorities.
Therefore, stringent rules and regulations must be put in place to curb hooliganism in this championship that is followed by young and old, men and women; the governed and governors. The key words or phrase is that, these ugly behaviors of so-called football lovers have no room in Gambian football; surely not a time when the football federation is fighting tooth and nail to attract sponsors to the game. Even though common sense tells us that unruly behavior is not accepted in any society, we must make sure we put up mechanisms to avert such acts and prescribe punishments that are heavy to serve as a deterrent to would be offenders. That way, the unruly behaviours of individuals or groups in these often packed matches can be minimised if not eradicated at all.
The Super Nawettan, also called Zonal championship is perhaps the only football tournament where people show commitment to their zones with passion, interest and an unquenchable desire for their zones to win. Even where one's zone is not competing, one's allegiance is swayed to your neighbour. Passionate fans follow their zones to anywhere they go for a match, players show total commitment and determination for their zones.
The level of support is always electric as most zones parade troops of supporters drumming, singing and dancing thus making the environment euphoric. The electric support coming from the fans who surround the four corners of the stadia ginger the footballers to put up their best possible performances. Journalists from both print and electronic media and sometimes bloggers trip to venues not only or report but to support their zones “si-pet” meaning in secret. Journalists who could not control their emotions are sometimes spotted jumping in jubilation when their zonal teams create chances or score while you can read total agony from some journalists when their zones lose or the referee falter against their zones. Such attitude leaves football officials and spectators pointing fingers to the men of the microphone and pen; labeling them as partisans and not men and women on duty.
It is not only journalists who are accuses of taking sides when on duty but even organisers are sometimes emotionally charged to an extent they tend to take sides. But pardon me not to go too far on that before I trample on some legs but let me flag that at the bottom of this piece I will take the meek of some people I think should not take sides. Anyway, it is good to note that upcoming coaches are mostly employed to take charge of their respective zones. But what is certain mostly is seeing senior coaches standing behind their zone's technical bench pointing out the weaknesses of their opponents. Sometimes they are even tempted to send text messages to the technical bench. When things aren't working well for their sides, they stormed the dressing room of their zones during the break to give some advice
Looking at these above examples of how connected and involved people are to this footy tournament, there must care in the selection of referees who officiate these football matches because these referees are from these zones. I am without doubt that even if the organising committee brings the world's most outstanding referees to officiate these matches, you will still hear queries like 'this referee isn't good'. My point here is the referees selected must know that their integrity as referees is at stake and they must live up to expectation. This is the more reason why many people argue that the Gambia Football Referees' Association need to orient these referees as to the issues at stake and how important it is for them to maintain their integrity and adjudicate fairly. The men in black now appearing in multi-colours are always in the center of things and are not only under pressure from the players, coaches, fans but also from officials of the respective zones. Here is a scenario that all must consider; your team strikers might squander five goal line chances and be pardoned by his fellow players, coaches, fans and officials but will clinched on the single mistake of the referee to create an unnecessary problem. My plea to everyone is leave the referees alone because they are human and are liable to err.
One area that also needs to be improved to curb crowd trouble is to host teams in neutral venues. For instance if Banjul should take on Serekunda West, what is wrong in having them play at the Serekunda East Mini Stadium to make sure one team is not given an outright advantage hence there is nothing like home and away matches because zones like Gunjur, Sukuta, Lamin, Bakau, BEM, Serekunda Central and Brufut do not have playable fields to host these footy matches. Because people follow their zones to these match venue, organizers must be safety conscious first before considering the monetary gains as always argued.
Hence members of the organising committee of the zonal championship are representatives of the competing zones, why can't they spend time sensitising their supporters on the no violence slogan. It is embarrassing for a zone to be branded the trouble-maker and I can authoritatively state that few zones have already been branded like that. So, whether they start the trouble or not, once their zone is playing, and a problem erupts, all fingers will be pointing at them. I am aware that most zones have fans clubs who are very well informed and does not involved in trouble. The problem is with those who are carried along when people are moving to these ground. In fact some people will argue that those brought-along fans are the ones who cause trouble. But I have also observed that sometimes the problem usually starts from the coaches or those on the technical bench. Imagine when my coach is jumping in disagreement to everything that the referee blows, how will his players and fans react? The coaches and their assistance must be role models and lead by example.
The media can play a very important role in curbing crowd trouble in our football by engaging the members of the organizing committee to continue calling for a violence free tourney. In fact it is my view that the organizing committee members should take this initiative to roll out a no violence campaign which should be continuous on the print and electronic media. I am impressed with City Limits Radio sports crew who initiated a no violence campaign by capturing zonal heads, coaches and captains to make a no violence declaration.
Picked from their page, they wrote “Team Mega Sports Bite on City Limits Radio have started a media campaign to sensitize the general public through the various stakeholders on the need to have a trouble free Super Nawettan this year. We will use zonal representatives to make a declaration. Not only will we use zonal reps but we will use the coaches and team captains to say something like this; "I Mr X, the president of Brufut and a member of Zonal committee is urging all fans of Brufut to come out in numbers to support Brufut but without violence because violence has no room in our football."
My team and I on Mega Sports Bite will use these audio clips of these key stakeholders on our programmes to remind our listeners on the need to having a trouble-free zonal championship. In as much as the media is expected to continue calling for a trouble-free tournament, the organizing committee should utilize the media as an authorized body to run this tournament to remind people. Maybe they can as well copy the City Limits Radio no violence campaign and send them to all media houses.
No matter how much sensitisation is done, the organising committee must not rest on their laurels. They must provide security and security must be adequate. Providing enough security is always a challenge but we must consider the number of people who troop to these matches. But again the little security that is available must crowd watch and not watch football. What I know about securities that are taken to sporting event is that they must watch the crowd to spot out the trouble makers. When this professional body does not fix their eyes on the crowd, some cheeky and unruly fans within the crowd could start their misbehaviour. It is easy to weed out the unruly fans within the crowd if eyes are fixed on them. The OC must not only be concerned with the security of the referees and players in the pitch but even the fans. This is why I urge them to sensitize the security to watch the crowd and not the match.
If the above mechanisms are put in place, the organising committee should above all have stringent rules and regulations that will force zones to take responsible of the behaviours of their fans. I must say that the previous zonal committees have not been consistent; they have not been working as a team and put favoritism above honesty. Take for example last year when the tournament turned violent. Some members were saying this and others saying that. For some zonal heads they were busy defending their zones to the detriment of the country while others were scared of speaking the truth. I am with the belief that once you reach that level, Gambia must be first and zones should be secondary. In as much as we must advice, fans, players, coaches, fans and referees to comport themselves, organisers must seem to be honest and ready to strike where there is need to strike. If people see lapses in the way organisers carryout their judgment, this could lead to problems.
In conclusion, I support the planned punishment for offending zones and individuals. Unless harsh punishments are meted out to offenders, hooliganism might remain in our game which can kick sponsors away. Earlier it was stated that, any zone that brings zonal matches into a halt, will be suspended for five year and will not be allow to even organise Nawettan in your zone. In my view that punishment is good and should be adhered to. In the case of individual offenders, we must just hand them over to the police to deal with them.
It's your game, our country our world so let's keep talking. May the luckiest team win because all teams are good.
Sang Mendy is a journalism teaching assistant, GPU School of Journalism and a journalism student at the School of Journalism, University of The Gambia.
Super Nawettan is arguably Gambia's most watched sporting event but hooliganism usually paint the football tournament dappled to the dislike of the players, fans, technicians, organisers, sponsors, the football and state authorities.
Therefore, stringent rules and regulations must be put in place to curb hooliganism in this championship that is followed by young and old, men and women; the governed and governors. The key words or phrase is that, these ugly behaviors of so-called football lovers have no room in Gambian football; surely not a time when the football federation is fighting tooth and nail to attract sponsors to the game. Even though common sense tells us that unruly behavior is not accepted in any society, we must make sure we put up mechanisms to avert such acts and prescribe punishments that are heavy to serve as a deterrent to would be offenders. That way, the unruly behaviours of individuals or groups in these often packed matches can be minimised if not eradicated at all.
The Super Nawettan, also called Zonal championship is perhaps the only football tournament where people show commitment to their zones with passion, interest and an unquenchable desire for their zones to win. Even where one's zone is not competing, one's allegiance is swayed to your neighbour. Passionate fans follow their zones to anywhere they go for a match, players show total commitment and determination for their zones.
The level of support is always electric as most zones parade troops of supporters drumming, singing and dancing thus making the environment euphoric. The electric support coming from the fans who surround the four corners of the stadia ginger the footballers to put up their best possible performances. Journalists from both print and electronic media and sometimes bloggers trip to venues not only or report but to support their zones “si-pet” meaning in secret. Journalists who could not control their emotions are sometimes spotted jumping in jubilation when their zonal teams create chances or score while you can read total agony from some journalists when their zones lose or the referee falter against their zones. Such attitude leaves football officials and spectators pointing fingers to the men of the microphone and pen; labeling them as partisans and not men and women on duty.
It is not only journalists who are accuses of taking sides when on duty but even organisers are sometimes emotionally charged to an extent they tend to take sides. But pardon me not to go too far on that before I trample on some legs but let me flag that at the bottom of this piece I will take the meek of some people I think should not take sides. Anyway, it is good to note that upcoming coaches are mostly employed to take charge of their respective zones. But what is certain mostly is seeing senior coaches standing behind their zone's technical bench pointing out the weaknesses of their opponents. Sometimes they are even tempted to send text messages to the technical bench. When things aren't working well for their sides, they stormed the dressing room of their zones during the break to give some advice
Looking at these above examples of how connected and involved people are to this footy tournament, there must care in the selection of referees who officiate these football matches because these referees are from these zones. I am without doubt that even if the organising committee brings the world's most outstanding referees to officiate these matches, you will still hear queries like 'this referee isn't good'. My point here is the referees selected must know that their integrity as referees is at stake and they must live up to expectation. This is the more reason why many people argue that the Gambia Football Referees' Association need to orient these referees as to the issues at stake and how important it is for them to maintain their integrity and adjudicate fairly. The men in black now appearing in multi-colours are always in the center of things and are not only under pressure from the players, coaches, fans but also from officials of the respective zones. Here is a scenario that all must consider; your team strikers might squander five goal line chances and be pardoned by his fellow players, coaches, fans and officials but will clinched on the single mistake of the referee to create an unnecessary problem. My plea to everyone is leave the referees alone because they are human and are liable to err.
One area that also needs to be improved to curb crowd trouble is to host teams in neutral venues. For instance if Banjul should take on Serekunda West, what is wrong in having them play at the Serekunda East Mini Stadium to make sure one team is not given an outright advantage hence there is nothing like home and away matches because zones like Gunjur, Sukuta, Lamin, Bakau, BEM, Serekunda Central and Brufut do not have playable fields to host these footy matches. Because people follow their zones to these match venue, organizers must be safety conscious first before considering the monetary gains as always argued.
Hence members of the organising committee of the zonal championship are representatives of the competing zones, why can't they spend time sensitising their supporters on the no violence slogan. It is embarrassing for a zone to be branded the trouble-maker and I can authoritatively state that few zones have already been branded like that. So, whether they start the trouble or not, once their zone is playing, and a problem erupts, all fingers will be pointing at them. I am aware that most zones have fans clubs who are very well informed and does not involved in trouble. The problem is with those who are carried along when people are moving to these ground. In fact some people will argue that those brought-along fans are the ones who cause trouble. But I have also observed that sometimes the problem usually starts from the coaches or those on the technical bench. Imagine when my coach is jumping in disagreement to everything that the referee blows, how will his players and fans react? The coaches and their assistance must be role models and lead by example.
The media can play a very important role in curbing crowd trouble in our football by engaging the members of the organizing committee to continue calling for a violence free tourney. In fact it is my view that the organizing committee members should take this initiative to roll out a no violence campaign which should be continuous on the print and electronic media. I am impressed with City Limits Radio sports crew who initiated a no violence campaign by capturing zonal heads, coaches and captains to make a no violence declaration.
Picked from their page, they wrote “Team Mega Sports Bite on City Limits Radio have started a media campaign to sensitize the general public through the various stakeholders on the need to have a trouble free Super Nawettan this year. We will use zonal representatives to make a declaration. Not only will we use zonal reps but we will use the coaches and team captains to say something like this; "I Mr X, the president of Brufut and a member of Zonal committee is urging all fans of Brufut to come out in numbers to support Brufut but without violence because violence has no room in our football."
My team and I on Mega Sports Bite will use these audio clips of these key stakeholders on our programmes to remind our listeners on the need to having a trouble-free zonal championship. In as much as the media is expected to continue calling for a trouble-free tournament, the organizing committee should utilize the media as an authorized body to run this tournament to remind people. Maybe they can as well copy the City Limits Radio no violence campaign and send them to all media houses.
No matter how much sensitisation is done, the organising committee must not rest on their laurels. They must provide security and security must be adequate. Providing enough security is always a challenge but we must consider the number of people who troop to these matches. But again the little security that is available must crowd watch and not watch football. What I know about securities that are taken to sporting event is that they must watch the crowd to spot out the trouble makers. When this professional body does not fix their eyes on the crowd, some cheeky and unruly fans within the crowd could start their misbehaviour. It is easy to weed out the unruly fans within the crowd if eyes are fixed on them. The OC must not only be concerned with the security of the referees and players in the pitch but even the fans. This is why I urge them to sensitize the security to watch the crowd and not the match.
If the above mechanisms are put in place, the organising committee should above all have stringent rules and regulations that will force zones to take responsible of the behaviours of their fans. I must say that the previous zonal committees have not been consistent; they have not been working as a team and put favoritism above honesty. Take for example last year when the tournament turned violent. Some members were saying this and others saying that. For some zonal heads they were busy defending their zones to the detriment of the country while others were scared of speaking the truth. I am with the belief that once you reach that level, Gambia must be first and zones should be secondary. In as much as we must advice, fans, players, coaches, fans and referees to comport themselves, organisers must seem to be honest and ready to strike where there is need to strike. If people see lapses in the way organisers carryout their judgment, this could lead to problems.
In conclusion, I support the planned punishment for offending zones and individuals. Unless harsh punishments are meted out to offenders, hooliganism might remain in our game which can kick sponsors away. Earlier it was stated that, any zone that brings zonal matches into a halt, will be suspended for five year and will not be allow to even organise Nawettan in your zone. In my view that punishment is good and should be adhered to. In the case of individual offenders, we must just hand them over to the police to deal with them.
It's your game, our country our world so let's keep talking. May the luckiest team win because all teams are good.
Sang Mendy is a journalism teaching assistant, GPU School of Journalism and a journalism student at the School of Journalism, University of The Gambia.
Sports Commentary: The Gambia, the topnotch priorities
Sang Mendy
Hip! Hip! The Gambia is rejoicing to the news of the lifting of the universal ban on our national teams as if a spot have been secured in the 2015 African Cup of Nations. This is because with the ban hopes were so minimal that some chose other national teams because our game, already in tatters, will further sink into the Atlantic Ocean.
Not much was happening in Gambian football as if we were banned from playing friendly matches. Things remained quiet until the run up to the Gambia Football Federation elections which saw Lamin Kaba Bajo voted into office. Both camps then promised to see CAF lift the ban on The Gambia. Indeed it happened just a week after the career diplomat was voted into office. It is good to put into context how important it is to have the ban lifted and as well project where we could be if the promises made in the blueprint (manifesto) remain mare promises.
I am tempted to ask, whether we must give credit to Kaba Bajo and his team or is the credit for Hon Alhagie Sillah, Ba S Jabbi and the other members of the Normalisation Committee? Whatever it is, we are above the moon that the ban is lifted. The former youth and sports minister now GFF president promised a lot for the coming four years and posterity will judge him and his team.
It is without doubt that in as much as the entire Gambian populace must put all hands at work, all eyes are also opened too. Gambians have learnt so much within the last three years so, I urge Kaba to be vigilant and never give the skeptics, doubters, critiqs the chance to say, Hurray! Hurray! I know this will happen. Here I will like to interject to say that to successfully move football from its spiral down effect, all must adopt the 'You cannot do this or that attitude', rather than wait till the entire country plunges into the deep ocean then say I know this will happen. The wollof saying; “Magi wahon nako mogen magi hamon nako,” which means an elder who says I warned him, is better than the one who says I know this will happen. So, we cannot afford to chose the latter.
They said to whom much is given, much is expected in return and there is no doubt that too much has been given to Lamin Kaba Bajo and team not because of tribe, religion, region, section but because of their personalities and what they promised the electorates who represent everyone in this country. In this world the highly paid persons are those who use their brains not those who use power and strength to work. Therefore, with the academic qualifications of the elected executives, expectations are that they can blend that with their experience in football administration to march the nation past an army of dangerous beast to reach our first African cup of nations.
Now that the ban is lifted, all that is needed is to put in place a plan of how to engage the national team. It is going to be your choice to prioritize which national teams we prepare and for which competitions and for the coaches to prioritize which cohort of players to use in the various national teams. But it is my view that the crème' de la crème' of Gambian football is within the age range of 19-23 so, please put emphasis on this cohort of players. It is without doubt that we have a pool of good players both home and abroad and if put together and worked on for three years we can qualify to the African Cup of Nations. This though is just my thought. It is good to note that I am not rubbishing the Under 17s and the senior players plying their trade both home and abroad. For the senior players we might use those playing week in week out and not bench warmers because The Gambia need a future team that can qualify the nation to its first major continental tournament. We might consider U-17 if only we will get the right ages for this team because from henceforth, the whole world will be watching so, no room for mistakes.
Looking into these elected persons into the Football House, Lamin Kaba Bajo, the president of the GFF is described as a grassroots football enthusiastic; sportsman; soldier; politician; cabinet minister and a diplomat. These accolades alone are enough for one to have the required experience and connection to transform Gambian football. In terms of academic qualifications, Kaba holds a master's degree in diplomatic studies from the university of Leicester UK. Kaba is the general overseers of the federation so having bagged such academic qualifications and administrative experience at top level, what more can be asked of the former military man if not stamp his authority where necessary and not let an external force impact on his administration.
As the general overseer of Gambian football he must expect external interference and people wanting favours from him just because they promoted his course in the run up to the election. This is where he will face the biggest challenge. If he stamp his authority by saying no to interference and people looking for favours, I see success coming his way cognizant of the composition of the team. In the run up to the election, when Kaba unveiled his manifesto and team, he categorically made it clear that, “We will prefer to drag a player from the touchline and claim he is injured that risk fielding in an overage player.” These words sink deep in my mind and I think we should make this our second national anthem because age cheating and falsification has damaged our football. I will delve into this in another write up. I am without doubt that, Kaba has all it takes to govern and govern well. Just a quick word for his followers here; put personal interest aside and help yourselves to transform football as you promised in your manifesto.
Abdoulie Star Jallow, the first vice president of the GFF is a former Gambia national team captain. He is said to have been the founder of Gamtel FC. He is a professional accountant & auditor. Star as he is fondly called has a BA Honors in accounting & finance degree. Until his retirement, Jallow was director of audit for both Gamtel and Gamcel. Star is taking over from another financier in Buba Star Janneh. So it is a star taking over from another star and a finance man taking over from another.
What is clear is that finance has always been Gambian football's problem. The only money Gambia rely on is the FIFA Financial Assistance Programme the FAP which is meant to develop the game but yet, many people will argue that the game is stagnant despite millions of dollars that came into the country for the past years. How Star Jallow will administer the little funds coming into the federation will be key to the success of the Kaba Bajo team. What must not be encouraged is seeing the FIFA funds diverted for what it is not meant for. This will deter the football development the nation is yarning for.
Ebou Faye is the second vice president. He has coached and administered some top level teams in The Gambia. He played first division football for Wallidan, Roots, Hawks FC and Roda F C of Norway in the first division in 1991/92 season. He worked as a sports journalist for Radio 1 FM from 1994/96 and has a Diploma in Freelance Journalism. Ebou is currently the Team Manager of Banjul United and the General Manager of the Independence Stadium and Friendship Hotel. Ebou graduated from the South Bank University in England with a Master's Degree in Development Studies. He will be responsible for all technical matters of the GFF considering his technical background.
With his diploma in journalism, he might even be the spokesperson of the GFF. This is the area The Gambia must not joke with. Ebou would be relied on for advice when technical matters arise. Team selection, prioritizing teams, selection of coaches and technicians as well other technical related appointments and employments that the GFF might be going into. Will he put Gambia first by considering good brains or will he advice they go for good allies with feeble brains.
Martin Gomez - 3rd Vice President – School & Grassroots Football Administrator; Sportsman; Teacher & School Principal; Leader; Founder of Saints FC. He is one of the leading promoters of School & Grassroots Football in The Gambia. Martin is the President of the School Sports Association and Founder and President Saints FC, a 3rd Division Team in Banjul. Many people call him the new Father Gough of Gambian Football. Martin has been a teacher since 1982 and the current principal of Saint Augustine High school. He holds a Master's Degree in Education and Policy Studies from the University of Bristol UK.
If academic qualification and work experience is anything to go by, Gambia has nothing to worry about because this batch of leaders are not sort of both but I must draw the line here that football administration is a different ball game. You need not play football or back all the academic qualifications to administer football very well. You need much more than that.
The other executive members Alhagi Faye, retired international referee; Modou Jallow, secretary general North Bank Region Football Association; Mam Lisa Camara, West Coast Region and Sainabou Cham a member of the women football association gives your executive a composition that represents all bodies of football in this country. Again the key word is represent the Gambian people and not an interest group. Taking their experience in other aspects of the game, I am without doubts that they will head couple of committees that would be created sooner or later.
I chose not to say much about the newest inclusion to the GFF executive as co-opted members, honorary members or adviser because since their appointment, concerns have been raised that the GFF constitution have been violated. What is clear is that to confer honorary membership, the GFF constitution has a complete article and it clearly stated that only the general assembly can confer honorary membership while the executive can just nominate. The entire constitution of the GFF has nothing such as co-opted members or advisers. I am convinced that the executive's intention is to surround themselves with experience people but the constitution cannot be put aside. I am aware of the amount of time, energy and resources spent on this constitution which many people including even some of those drafted in to beef up the executive called as the best constitution for the development of football in this country so, why not respect it and go by its dictates.
Your vision which is to “develop and promote a healthy football community in The Gambia, stabilize and improve the financial and administrative infrastructure of Gambian football and ensure better cooperation between the GFF and football stakeholders, the Gambia Government, CAF and FIFA.” This is what you look forward to achieve within your four year mandate or if by extension the people vote you and your team for another term. It is easy to plan but hard to implement. But if you know how to do it go on and do it for that is the only way forward.
Since you set out for this herculean task your mission was and it should remain “uniting, stabilizing and sustaining an upward trend in football development with focus on qualifying The Gambia to the African Cup of Nations and FIFA world cup.” I have no doubts that is you succeed in uniting, stabilizing and setting up an upward trend in football development, qualifying to the African cup of nations might be possible if the right structures are put in place and square peg are put in square holes. I cannot quit this section without stating that I am lost because your manifesto did not specify what category you want to qualify The Gambia to the CAN and FIFA. Laughing-out-loud (lol) if you mean the senior team I can't wait to see the plans to qualify The Gambia to that championship that we waited for far too long always felling prey to poor planning. As for the World cup ,my projection is maybe by 2022. Note it is not a profanity. I don't just see the signs yet so if we plan wel,l 2022 can be possible.
Your manifesto also promised to “build better relationship, trust and confidence with all stakeholders; football family, the government, CAF and FIFA, clubs and allied associations and the business community.” It is without doubt that if any of these partners lost trust and confidence in your executive, progress will be at snail pace.
To conclude, be on the guard and abide by the regulations both home and international.
Sang Mendy
Teaching Assistant, GPU School of Journalism
Journalism student, UTG School of Journalism and Digital Media
Hip! Hip! The Gambia is rejoicing to the news of the lifting of the universal ban on our national teams as if a spot have been secured in the 2015 African Cup of Nations. This is because with the ban hopes were so minimal that some chose other national teams because our game, already in tatters, will further sink into the Atlantic Ocean.
Not much was happening in Gambian football as if we were banned from playing friendly matches. Things remained quiet until the run up to the Gambia Football Federation elections which saw Lamin Kaba Bajo voted into office. Both camps then promised to see CAF lift the ban on The Gambia. Indeed it happened just a week after the career diplomat was voted into office. It is good to put into context how important it is to have the ban lifted and as well project where we could be if the promises made in the blueprint (manifesto) remain mare promises.
I am tempted to ask, whether we must give credit to Kaba Bajo and his team or is the credit for Hon Alhagie Sillah, Ba S Jabbi and the other members of the Normalisation Committee? Whatever it is, we are above the moon that the ban is lifted. The former youth and sports minister now GFF president promised a lot for the coming four years and posterity will judge him and his team.
It is without doubt that in as much as the entire Gambian populace must put all hands at work, all eyes are also opened too. Gambians have learnt so much within the last three years so, I urge Kaba to be vigilant and never give the skeptics, doubters, critiqs the chance to say, Hurray! Hurray! I know this will happen. Here I will like to interject to say that to successfully move football from its spiral down effect, all must adopt the 'You cannot do this or that attitude', rather than wait till the entire country plunges into the deep ocean then say I know this will happen. The wollof saying; “Magi wahon nako mogen magi hamon nako,” which means an elder who says I warned him, is better than the one who says I know this will happen. So, we cannot afford to chose the latter.
They said to whom much is given, much is expected in return and there is no doubt that too much has been given to Lamin Kaba Bajo and team not because of tribe, religion, region, section but because of their personalities and what they promised the electorates who represent everyone in this country. In this world the highly paid persons are those who use their brains not those who use power and strength to work. Therefore, with the academic qualifications of the elected executives, expectations are that they can blend that with their experience in football administration to march the nation past an army of dangerous beast to reach our first African cup of nations.
Now that the ban is lifted, all that is needed is to put in place a plan of how to engage the national team. It is going to be your choice to prioritize which national teams we prepare and for which competitions and for the coaches to prioritize which cohort of players to use in the various national teams. But it is my view that the crème' de la crème' of Gambian football is within the age range of 19-23 so, please put emphasis on this cohort of players. It is without doubt that we have a pool of good players both home and abroad and if put together and worked on for three years we can qualify to the African Cup of Nations. This though is just my thought. It is good to note that I am not rubbishing the Under 17s and the senior players plying their trade both home and abroad. For the senior players we might use those playing week in week out and not bench warmers because The Gambia need a future team that can qualify the nation to its first major continental tournament. We might consider U-17 if only we will get the right ages for this team because from henceforth, the whole world will be watching so, no room for mistakes.
Looking into these elected persons into the Football House, Lamin Kaba Bajo, the president of the GFF is described as a grassroots football enthusiastic; sportsman; soldier; politician; cabinet minister and a diplomat. These accolades alone are enough for one to have the required experience and connection to transform Gambian football. In terms of academic qualifications, Kaba holds a master's degree in diplomatic studies from the university of Leicester UK. Kaba is the general overseers of the federation so having bagged such academic qualifications and administrative experience at top level, what more can be asked of the former military man if not stamp his authority where necessary and not let an external force impact on his administration.
As the general overseer of Gambian football he must expect external interference and people wanting favours from him just because they promoted his course in the run up to the election. This is where he will face the biggest challenge. If he stamp his authority by saying no to interference and people looking for favours, I see success coming his way cognizant of the composition of the team. In the run up to the election, when Kaba unveiled his manifesto and team, he categorically made it clear that, “We will prefer to drag a player from the touchline and claim he is injured that risk fielding in an overage player.” These words sink deep in my mind and I think we should make this our second national anthem because age cheating and falsification has damaged our football. I will delve into this in another write up. I am without doubt that, Kaba has all it takes to govern and govern well. Just a quick word for his followers here; put personal interest aside and help yourselves to transform football as you promised in your manifesto.
Abdoulie Star Jallow, the first vice president of the GFF is a former Gambia national team captain. He is said to have been the founder of Gamtel FC. He is a professional accountant & auditor. Star as he is fondly called has a BA Honors in accounting & finance degree. Until his retirement, Jallow was director of audit for both Gamtel and Gamcel. Star is taking over from another financier in Buba Star Janneh. So it is a star taking over from another star and a finance man taking over from another.
What is clear is that finance has always been Gambian football's problem. The only money Gambia rely on is the FIFA Financial Assistance Programme the FAP which is meant to develop the game but yet, many people will argue that the game is stagnant despite millions of dollars that came into the country for the past years. How Star Jallow will administer the little funds coming into the federation will be key to the success of the Kaba Bajo team. What must not be encouraged is seeing the FIFA funds diverted for what it is not meant for. This will deter the football development the nation is yarning for.
Ebou Faye is the second vice president. He has coached and administered some top level teams in The Gambia. He played first division football for Wallidan, Roots, Hawks FC and Roda F C of Norway in the first division in 1991/92 season. He worked as a sports journalist for Radio 1 FM from 1994/96 and has a Diploma in Freelance Journalism. Ebou is currently the Team Manager of Banjul United and the General Manager of the Independence Stadium and Friendship Hotel. Ebou graduated from the South Bank University in England with a Master's Degree in Development Studies. He will be responsible for all technical matters of the GFF considering his technical background.
With his diploma in journalism, he might even be the spokesperson of the GFF. This is the area The Gambia must not joke with. Ebou would be relied on for advice when technical matters arise. Team selection, prioritizing teams, selection of coaches and technicians as well other technical related appointments and employments that the GFF might be going into. Will he put Gambia first by considering good brains or will he advice they go for good allies with feeble brains.
Martin Gomez - 3rd Vice President – School & Grassroots Football Administrator; Sportsman; Teacher & School Principal; Leader; Founder of Saints FC. He is one of the leading promoters of School & Grassroots Football in The Gambia. Martin is the President of the School Sports Association and Founder and President Saints FC, a 3rd Division Team in Banjul. Many people call him the new Father Gough of Gambian Football. Martin has been a teacher since 1982 and the current principal of Saint Augustine High school. He holds a Master's Degree in Education and Policy Studies from the University of Bristol UK.
If academic qualification and work experience is anything to go by, Gambia has nothing to worry about because this batch of leaders are not sort of both but I must draw the line here that football administration is a different ball game. You need not play football or back all the academic qualifications to administer football very well. You need much more than that.
The other executive members Alhagi Faye, retired international referee; Modou Jallow, secretary general North Bank Region Football Association; Mam Lisa Camara, West Coast Region and Sainabou Cham a member of the women football association gives your executive a composition that represents all bodies of football in this country. Again the key word is represent the Gambian people and not an interest group. Taking their experience in other aspects of the game, I am without doubts that they will head couple of committees that would be created sooner or later.
I chose not to say much about the newest inclusion to the GFF executive as co-opted members, honorary members or adviser because since their appointment, concerns have been raised that the GFF constitution have been violated. What is clear is that to confer honorary membership, the GFF constitution has a complete article and it clearly stated that only the general assembly can confer honorary membership while the executive can just nominate. The entire constitution of the GFF has nothing such as co-opted members or advisers. I am convinced that the executive's intention is to surround themselves with experience people but the constitution cannot be put aside. I am aware of the amount of time, energy and resources spent on this constitution which many people including even some of those drafted in to beef up the executive called as the best constitution for the development of football in this country so, why not respect it and go by its dictates.
Your vision which is to “develop and promote a healthy football community in The Gambia, stabilize and improve the financial and administrative infrastructure of Gambian football and ensure better cooperation between the GFF and football stakeholders, the Gambia Government, CAF and FIFA.” This is what you look forward to achieve within your four year mandate or if by extension the people vote you and your team for another term. It is easy to plan but hard to implement. But if you know how to do it go on and do it for that is the only way forward.
Since you set out for this herculean task your mission was and it should remain “uniting, stabilizing and sustaining an upward trend in football development with focus on qualifying The Gambia to the African Cup of Nations and FIFA world cup.” I have no doubts that is you succeed in uniting, stabilizing and setting up an upward trend in football development, qualifying to the African cup of nations might be possible if the right structures are put in place and square peg are put in square holes. I cannot quit this section without stating that I am lost because your manifesto did not specify what category you want to qualify The Gambia to the CAN and FIFA. Laughing-out-loud (lol) if you mean the senior team I can't wait to see the plans to qualify The Gambia to that championship that we waited for far too long always felling prey to poor planning. As for the World cup ,my projection is maybe by 2022. Note it is not a profanity. I don't just see the signs yet so if we plan wel,l 2022 can be possible.
Your manifesto also promised to “build better relationship, trust and confidence with all stakeholders; football family, the government, CAF and FIFA, clubs and allied associations and the business community.” It is without doubt that if any of these partners lost trust and confidence in your executive, progress will be at snail pace.
To conclude, be on the guard and abide by the regulations both home and international.
Sang Mendy
Teaching Assistant, GPU School of Journalism
Journalism student, UTG School of Journalism and Digital Media
On the current football hullabaloo
By Sang Mendy
Gambian football was once on the right trajectory. But now everything has gone down south and left in tatters. There are a myriad reasons for this. But principally, it is because our football administrators plan poorly, engage in senseless farrago by undermining each other and flouting rules and regulations governing the beautiful game through sheer ineptitude or plain ignorance. These alone are enough to throw the much cherished sports into the doldrums leaving football fans rallying behind other national teams when international football tournaments are on. ..
The Gambia went into 'normalisation' twice in as many years. This is enough to say things are not going the right way. 2 March 2012 the Seedy Kinteh-led executive was axed and replaced by a normalisation committee led by Alhaji OB Conateh. Reasons for disbanding the Kinteh-led executive were that the game was retrogressing. Another reason was that the executive was accused of not utilising the monies granted to the GFA by Fifa thus leaving many to accuse the ousted executive of mismanaging football money.
With the above reasons the normalisation committee was tasked to restructure Gambian football, develop a good constitution that will represent the entire country and above all acquire sponsorship for our league. The NC was given few months to do all this. But after reviews and consultations, the NC realised that meeting their terms of reference was a far-fetched dream so they asked for an extension of their term. There were two more extensions within the eighteen months of normalisation but at the end it brought about what many people believed was a good constitution. It was not possible though for the normalisation committee to restructure the Gambian league or sign a sponsorship deal with any sponsor.
Not only have the NC failed to restructure football or get a stand-in sponsor, the NC sacked or terminated the services of some employees of the then GFA. This left many unemployed for months. They struggled to feed their families and until today some of them could still not pick up another job. These alone created acrimony because friends and relatives of the sacked employees turned bitter against the NC.
As if that was not enough to attract enmity, the NC in the run-up to the 2013 elective congress, banned Seedy Kinteh, Halla Samba and some staff of the GFA. The reason for banning these people among other things was that during their administration, the two gentlemen and others mismanaged funds meant to develop football. The news of the banning of the former executive raised mixed feelings as one group supported the ban while others cried foul and labelled it a witch-hunt. Knowing that the football fraternity is divided, Mustapha Kebbeh in his acceptance speech promised to bring the divided family into a well-bonded, one-hearted family in the interest of the game. Not only did he promise to unite the divided forces, he also promised to transform The Gambia into a model worth emulating.
But what did The Gambia get from the Mustapha Kebbeh-led administration if not agony and shame? It is an open secret that The Gambia has been involved in flouting the rules and regulations governing the beautiful game especially when it comes to registering players at youth level. This was visible to an extent even the minster of youth and sports, Alieu Jammeh cited instances when we celebrated victory at youth level knowing very well that we have not used the right players. He made these citations when he was announcing the dissolution of the Kinteh-led administration in 2012. That should have been enough warning to any administrator coming into office and any coach tasked to put up junior or youth team.
Under Kebbeh, The Gambia got herself into trouble for using five players over the required age for the U-20 competition. First, the Gambia was thrown out of the U-20 qualifiers, followed by the bomb that crushed all our national teams from all Caf-related competitions because the country was found to have used overaged players and as well falsified the age of one of the players claiming, the said player has two dates of birth. It was difficult to ascertain whether the decision to field in those overaged players was sheer clumsiness, inexperience or a deliberate attempt to cheat. Again the general public had mixed reactions.
Some thought the act was deliberate, others believed there was a bit of undermining while others believe ignorance and inexperience was the reason for what was referred to in many quarters as 'a schoolboy error'. This period of Gambian football left people accusing each other especially when the news of the infamous Caf circular broke. It was an open secret that the circular landed in the country and certainly into Football House. But why it did not pop up in the course of registering the U-20 in the qualifiers remain a mystery. The question though was, would the Kebbeh-led administration risk playing nonqualified players if they had seen the all-important circular?
It could be recalled that in the run-up to the 2013 elective congress, Mustapha Kebbeh and his sympathisers condemned normalisation committee for banning Kinteh and Samba from contesting the election noting that there was a hunting game somewhere. I always laugh-out-loud whenever I hear about such statements because you hardly know who is hunting who. Because Kebbeh and team condemned the ban, when he assumed office, his executive in collaboration with football stakeholders lifted the ban on Seedy and others at an extraordinary congress. Lifting the ban on these people seemed to have left some people celebrating like they had won the lottery, while it opened up some fresh wounds somewhere.
But it was far from being honky dory with Gambian football. Instead the problems were to exacerbate and in due course, Fifa slapped Kebbeh and his top three with a suspension and yet again replaced them with a normalisation committee led by the parliamentarian Alhagie Sillah, a former national team coach. The reason advanced for their suspension was that some stakeholders had lost confidence in the Kebbeh-led administration and to restore that confidence, an election should be conducted. The Sillah-led NC in the run up to the election to restore confidence felt Kebbeh and Kinteh who had brought so much opprobrium to the game were not eligible to contest the coming GFF elections. Again the country went into schism with analyses of the approval and disapproval of candidates in the run-up to the September 20, 2014 election.
In as much as Gambian football administrators are busy pulling each other down and flouting the rules and regulation of the game, a chunk of our problems has always been poor planning. As the saying goes, proper planning prevents poor performance. We could also say that failure to prepare is preparing to fail. Administrators should be good planners. But where administrators are more interested in short-term gains than long-term glories, only heartache will ensue.
The Gambia should have been benefiting from the success of the 2005 U-17 team if the country had good football administrators. Gambian football has gone down the gutters like the gutters on the streets of New Town in Nana Grey Johnson's Magic Calabash. Football administrators' inability to maintain the junior team that stunned the world by beating Brazil in the 2005 U-17 championship in Peru and the constant violation of Caf and Fifa rules are responsible for the country's failure in football. These two problems are among a barrage of problems that prompted the dissolution of two football associations.
The Gambia could not build on the heroic performance of the 2005 U-17 because football administrators lacked the foresight and financial muscle to nurture and maintain the team like Sir Alex Ferguson did with Manchester United. The Gambia's golden generation lasted for five years (2005-10) unlike Manchester United's which lasted 20 years (1992-2012). Instead of spending on the 2005 crop of players to come of age, administrators were busy developing new crop of players who could not match the achievements of Ousman Jallow and Momodou 'Zico' Ceesay. Many people believe that a demanding coach such as Jose Mourinho - who Sir Alex Ferguson referred to in his autobiography as “a cheeky young sod” after Jose' announced himself as “The Special One” – was what The Gambia needed.
When Alieu Jammeh, the minister of youth and sports was dissolving the Seedy Kinteh executive, he noted that, “The Gambia in many instances celebrated victory in football knowing the players used are overaged”. This was confirmed in 2011, when almost a dozen of The Gambia U-17 failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) ahead of U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. Earlier this year, The Gambia was thrown out of the U-20 tournament and eventually all CAF competitions for fielding overage players.
To remedy such situation, the country needed a strong and wise man like Tyrion Lannister in the movie, Game of Thrones. It also needs a rich man such like Christian Grey, a brilliant entrepreneur in EL James's book, Fifty Shades.
As we go to the polls on in the next 24 hours to elect yet another executive to administer football in The Gambia for the next four years, it is about time we open our eyes and ears. We must also use our analytical skills to analyse what the want-to-be presidents and their lieutenants are promising us. We might be blaming the people in the top echelons of the GFF for failing us but sometimes we have to blame the people who vote them in in the first place. In fact, some people have drawn conclusions that voters never vote in people based on their competence. Some people vote putting the considerations of competence aside and resorting to voting based on tribal, regional and sectional line.
Going into normalisation twice in two years is enough lesson for us. Therefore voters who are coming to vote, must take their time and not vote in someone because the person gave out a brown envelope or comes from the same region or the same tribe. Worst of all do not be intimidated to vote for anyone. If he is competent enough he will not resort to the intimidation strategies. Men and women with brains should always resist people who try to control their minds. Besides voting is going to be by secret ballot.
Whosoever is voted into office come September 20 must know that Gambians are awake now. He must be on his toes knowing that we can no more make the same mistakes. He cannot repeat the mistake that has killed others. For the losers in the election, please rally behind the winning team in the interest of football.
Remember, The Gambia used to beat Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, and many others in the sub-region but today, we are lagging way behind them. Vote with your heads, not your hearts.
Sang Mendy is a teaching assistant at the GPU School of Journalism and a sports producer and presenter at City Limits Radio.
Gambian football was once on the right trajectory. But now everything has gone down south and left in tatters. There are a myriad reasons for this. But principally, it is because our football administrators plan poorly, engage in senseless farrago by undermining each other and flouting rules and regulations governing the beautiful game through sheer ineptitude or plain ignorance. These alone are enough to throw the much cherished sports into the doldrums leaving football fans rallying behind other national teams when international football tournaments are on. ..
The Gambia went into 'normalisation' twice in as many years. This is enough to say things are not going the right way. 2 March 2012 the Seedy Kinteh-led executive was axed and replaced by a normalisation committee led by Alhaji OB Conateh. Reasons for disbanding the Kinteh-led executive were that the game was retrogressing. Another reason was that the executive was accused of not utilising the monies granted to the GFA by Fifa thus leaving many to accuse the ousted executive of mismanaging football money.
With the above reasons the normalisation committee was tasked to restructure Gambian football, develop a good constitution that will represent the entire country and above all acquire sponsorship for our league. The NC was given few months to do all this. But after reviews and consultations, the NC realised that meeting their terms of reference was a far-fetched dream so they asked for an extension of their term. There were two more extensions within the eighteen months of normalisation but at the end it brought about what many people believed was a good constitution. It was not possible though for the normalisation committee to restructure the Gambian league or sign a sponsorship deal with any sponsor.
Not only have the NC failed to restructure football or get a stand-in sponsor, the NC sacked or terminated the services of some employees of the then GFA. This left many unemployed for months. They struggled to feed their families and until today some of them could still not pick up another job. These alone created acrimony because friends and relatives of the sacked employees turned bitter against the NC.
As if that was not enough to attract enmity, the NC in the run-up to the 2013 elective congress, banned Seedy Kinteh, Halla Samba and some staff of the GFA. The reason for banning these people among other things was that during their administration, the two gentlemen and others mismanaged funds meant to develop football. The news of the banning of the former executive raised mixed feelings as one group supported the ban while others cried foul and labelled it a witch-hunt. Knowing that the football fraternity is divided, Mustapha Kebbeh in his acceptance speech promised to bring the divided family into a well-bonded, one-hearted family in the interest of the game. Not only did he promise to unite the divided forces, he also promised to transform The Gambia into a model worth emulating.
But what did The Gambia get from the Mustapha Kebbeh-led administration if not agony and shame? It is an open secret that The Gambia has been involved in flouting the rules and regulations governing the beautiful game especially when it comes to registering players at youth level. This was visible to an extent even the minster of youth and sports, Alieu Jammeh cited instances when we celebrated victory at youth level knowing very well that we have not used the right players. He made these citations when he was announcing the dissolution of the Kinteh-led administration in 2012. That should have been enough warning to any administrator coming into office and any coach tasked to put up junior or youth team.
Under Kebbeh, The Gambia got herself into trouble for using five players over the required age for the U-20 competition. First, the Gambia was thrown out of the U-20 qualifiers, followed by the bomb that crushed all our national teams from all Caf-related competitions because the country was found to have used overaged players and as well falsified the age of one of the players claiming, the said player has two dates of birth. It was difficult to ascertain whether the decision to field in those overaged players was sheer clumsiness, inexperience or a deliberate attempt to cheat. Again the general public had mixed reactions.
Some thought the act was deliberate, others believed there was a bit of undermining while others believe ignorance and inexperience was the reason for what was referred to in many quarters as 'a schoolboy error'. This period of Gambian football left people accusing each other especially when the news of the infamous Caf circular broke. It was an open secret that the circular landed in the country and certainly into Football House. But why it did not pop up in the course of registering the U-20 in the qualifiers remain a mystery. The question though was, would the Kebbeh-led administration risk playing nonqualified players if they had seen the all-important circular?
It could be recalled that in the run-up to the 2013 elective congress, Mustapha Kebbeh and his sympathisers condemned normalisation committee for banning Kinteh and Samba from contesting the election noting that there was a hunting game somewhere. I always laugh-out-loud whenever I hear about such statements because you hardly know who is hunting who. Because Kebbeh and team condemned the ban, when he assumed office, his executive in collaboration with football stakeholders lifted the ban on Seedy and others at an extraordinary congress. Lifting the ban on these people seemed to have left some people celebrating like they had won the lottery, while it opened up some fresh wounds somewhere.
But it was far from being honky dory with Gambian football. Instead the problems were to exacerbate and in due course, Fifa slapped Kebbeh and his top three with a suspension and yet again replaced them with a normalisation committee led by the parliamentarian Alhagie Sillah, a former national team coach. The reason advanced for their suspension was that some stakeholders had lost confidence in the Kebbeh-led administration and to restore that confidence, an election should be conducted. The Sillah-led NC in the run up to the election to restore confidence felt Kebbeh and Kinteh who had brought so much opprobrium to the game were not eligible to contest the coming GFF elections. Again the country went into schism with analyses of the approval and disapproval of candidates in the run-up to the September 20, 2014 election.
In as much as Gambian football administrators are busy pulling each other down and flouting the rules and regulation of the game, a chunk of our problems has always been poor planning. As the saying goes, proper planning prevents poor performance. We could also say that failure to prepare is preparing to fail. Administrators should be good planners. But where administrators are more interested in short-term gains than long-term glories, only heartache will ensue.
The Gambia should have been benefiting from the success of the 2005 U-17 team if the country had good football administrators. Gambian football has gone down the gutters like the gutters on the streets of New Town in Nana Grey Johnson's Magic Calabash. Football administrators' inability to maintain the junior team that stunned the world by beating Brazil in the 2005 U-17 championship in Peru and the constant violation of Caf and Fifa rules are responsible for the country's failure in football. These two problems are among a barrage of problems that prompted the dissolution of two football associations.
The Gambia could not build on the heroic performance of the 2005 U-17 because football administrators lacked the foresight and financial muscle to nurture and maintain the team like Sir Alex Ferguson did with Manchester United. The Gambia's golden generation lasted for five years (2005-10) unlike Manchester United's which lasted 20 years (1992-2012). Instead of spending on the 2005 crop of players to come of age, administrators were busy developing new crop of players who could not match the achievements of Ousman Jallow and Momodou 'Zico' Ceesay. Many people believe that a demanding coach such as Jose Mourinho - who Sir Alex Ferguson referred to in his autobiography as “a cheeky young sod” after Jose' announced himself as “The Special One” – was what The Gambia needed.
When Alieu Jammeh, the minister of youth and sports was dissolving the Seedy Kinteh executive, he noted that, “The Gambia in many instances celebrated victory in football knowing the players used are overaged”. This was confirmed in 2011, when almost a dozen of The Gambia U-17 failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) ahead of U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. Earlier this year, The Gambia was thrown out of the U-20 tournament and eventually all CAF competitions for fielding overage players.
To remedy such situation, the country needed a strong and wise man like Tyrion Lannister in the movie, Game of Thrones. It also needs a rich man such like Christian Grey, a brilliant entrepreneur in EL James's book, Fifty Shades.
As we go to the polls on in the next 24 hours to elect yet another executive to administer football in The Gambia for the next four years, it is about time we open our eyes and ears. We must also use our analytical skills to analyse what the want-to-be presidents and their lieutenants are promising us. We might be blaming the people in the top echelons of the GFF for failing us but sometimes we have to blame the people who vote them in in the first place. In fact, some people have drawn conclusions that voters never vote in people based on their competence. Some people vote putting the considerations of competence aside and resorting to voting based on tribal, regional and sectional line.
Going into normalisation twice in two years is enough lesson for us. Therefore voters who are coming to vote, must take their time and not vote in someone because the person gave out a brown envelope or comes from the same region or the same tribe. Worst of all do not be intimidated to vote for anyone. If he is competent enough he will not resort to the intimidation strategies. Men and women with brains should always resist people who try to control their minds. Besides voting is going to be by secret ballot.
Whosoever is voted into office come September 20 must know that Gambians are awake now. He must be on his toes knowing that we can no more make the same mistakes. He cannot repeat the mistake that has killed others. For the losers in the election, please rally behind the winning team in the interest of football.
Remember, The Gambia used to beat Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, and many others in the sub-region but today, we are lagging way behind them. Vote with your heads, not your hearts.
Sang Mendy is a teaching assistant at the GPU School of Journalism and a sports producer and presenter at City Limits Radio.
Gambia ‘la nyato-ta’ in football
What do we have, how can it be improved, who should do what and so forth
By Sang Mendy/Producer/Presenter Mega Sports Bite on City Limits Radio
Gambia ‘la nyato-ta’ in football means the way forward for Gambian Football. In this write-up I singled out ten areas that are key in the Nyato-ta of Gambians football ranging from infrastructural development to how much the Gambia can gain from having a smooth and cordial relationship between football stakeholders and government authorities among other things.
Experts, scholars, football administrators, veteran journalists have all written about the way forward for Gambian football but I chose to add my views to the barrage of views and opinions been expressed in the past or even still being expressed.
The reason for penning my views down is as a result of the current state of football, a state no Gambian is happy about. It all began when The Gambia was thrown out of the African Youth Championship for using illegible players against Liberia. Three weeks later, the entire Gambian populace was shocked when CAF issued a universal ban on all our national teams for two years.
This was followed by the formation of a task force committee tasked to investigate whether the football authorities acted in negligence or deliberately by fielding in illegible players. The task force later felt there was some act of negligence and deliberate refusal to follow the regulations and expert advice before the match and thus recommend the voluntary resignations of certain executive members and relieving some staff off their duties or the National Sports Council will advise government to take a decision.
While consultations were on about some potential resignation and the possible sacking of some key staff, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Alieu K Jammeh, publicly announced the suspension of the president of The Gambia football federation and his top three vice presidents and put in place a rectification committee.
Two days later, the entire GFF executive who were in town were detained by the police for a week. Three other staff of the National Sports Council were also detained at the state central police station in Banjul while an investigation was mounted by the police; investigations to ascertain who put The Gambia in this precarious situation.
While these people were in police custody, stakeholders with voting right put league football activities across the country to a halt calling on the reinstatement of their executive.
As if all that was not enough, FIFA threaten to ban the Gambia if the elected members of the GFF are not reinstated. It was reported that FIFA have promised to spend about $700 000 in the Gambia on grassroots football development, refurbishment of the FIFA Gold Project and the construction of new artificial turf in Lower River Region coupled with periodic performance assessment to be carried out by FIFA officials.
Am I drifting away from my topic? Oh, I just thought I need to give a brief background of the way things unfold and the sequence they happened. But let me concentrate on the ‘Nyato-ta’ of Gambian football with special focus on the following salient points I intend to cover.
Infrastructural development
Infrastructure refers to the physical structure that is needed for the game to take place. ‘Mbay mingla yang’, what we talking about is the playing fields and or grounds or should I say mini stadia or parks. Are they available and accessible to the growing number of youngsters who have fallen in love with the game or are growing to love the game due to the successes some Gambians have got for themselves and the popularity they have given to The Gambia.
In my views, The Gambia needs more playing grounds, in fact not only grounds but standard playing grounds that can accommodate the thousands of young people all hoping to make a living off football. Looking at the current situation, The Gambia has five sub-standard mini stadia; KG5 in Banjul, Serekunda East and West, Manjai and Box Bar Mini Stadium in Brikama and one national stadium n Bakau. All these are centered in the urban area prompting many to ask is football in The Gambia for only urban people of even the rural people are part of it.
What should be done?
There should be more sub-standard mini stadia, if not standard ones to accommodate the number of people wanting to make a living off football. The more standard fields we have, the more the young are lured to play football. The more players we have in all categories, the better it becomes for The Gambia because with a pool of good players, the technicians are forced to select the best to represent the country.
Take for example the entire West Coast Region or should I just take Kombo North with three big villages such as Lamin, Sukuta and Brufut, there is no standard playing ground. In fact for Brufut, they did not even have a piece of land in case the chance to build a mini stadium is offered.
Who should do what?
The Gambia has so many places yet to have playing grounds, so sports committees should work with village heads and the ministry local government and land to identify strategic locations for mini stadia. Where the grounds are already available, the area councils should work with the various sports committees in collaboration with the ministry of youth and sports to invest heavily in these places so as to keep the young people engaged.
It is obvious that the sports committees cannot transform their grounds to what it is desired because they lack funds but with the support of both the area councils and the ministry of youth and sports, mini stadia like KG5, East and East, Manjai and Brikama can be transformed.
It must be said that some of these mini stadia mentioned here were sorely developed by committees, individuals, and FIFA with little support from the councils. Should we move and move quick in football, the councils and the ministry of youth and sports must put aside a budget to transform our stadia. I mean in all the regions, districts and villages. When we do that we curb possible crime, drug use and reduce health problems.
FIFA Goal Project (Technical Training Center)-Yundum
The FIFA Goal Project (Technical Training Center) in Yundum has been underutilized. It has never served any of its purpose. That is a project that should have graduated players representing The Gambia at international level but because it seems previous executives of the Gambia Football Association have no realistic plan for youth football development, they failed to utilize it thus leaving the structure as a white elephant project. At no given time have that complex been utilized leaving me wondering if we had administrators who knew the importance and the reason why FIFA spend thousands of dollars in that project.
As the name implies that center should have been the breeding grounds for Gambia’s national teams. I am tempted to ask, if The Gambia had utilized that project should we have been caught using illegible players for a tournament?
Anyway, it is better late than never so we most refocus our attention to that complex that has the potential to develop about hundred kinds every five years.
No wonder when the Mustapha Kebbeh’s led executive came into office, they sort funding from FIFA to refurbish the place with a view to start utilizing it. Yes refurbish but also keep it running for its purpose should be our target. If not, we are just going back to zero.
This is a place to host the country’s best in football where they will undergo technical and tactical training and as well go to school like any other child. While they are at this place, they will not be eating starchy and oily food which is bad for athletes because their diet will be control by a dietitian.
Players age 9-18 or 20 can be beneficiaries. Players who turn out to be flops should be dropped because the center should not keep players who will become liabilities but assets. Once we start utilizing this center for its purpose, we can start dreaming of qualifying for our first ever African Cup of Nations or even The World Cup.
It just strikes my mind to ask who should fund this complex. The compound is ours and we must invest in it. The fact that we have a parent in FIFA willing to give us funds does not mean we must fold our hands. Therefore, the ministry of youth and sports should come in with some funds to support in the maintenance of this complex that can play a big role in the development of our football.
Youth football (what many refer to as grassroots football)
I grew up hearing about school boy internationals but hardly do you see a school boy even playing for our junior teams since we started entering into the junior and youth competitions. This leaves me asking, do we have better and more honest administrators in those days than now or was football better administered in those days than now? Research has shown that most of those school boy internationals The Gambia was boasting about were spotted out from school competitions and youth football festivals.
Why aren’t we having more school boy internationals now that we have a bigger population, better trained coaches, well exposed administrators, football clinics and more schools?
I am with the conviction that with football jamborees and festivals involving schools and football clinics and with a well-organized youth leagues for the first division league clubs, selecting players for the Center of Excellence will not be a herculean task.
We need not go far to understudy how a youth league can be organized because we can just stop at Senegal to learn a lot. They have a well-organized youth league so why not go there to understudy them. Concerning putting up football jamborees and festivals to scout for the Center of Excellence, a plan has already been developed by the technical department of the GFF to host over 240 kids both boys and girls but that plan must be put into practice.
Yes, I know the next thing you are calculating in your mind is who will foot the bill for the jamborees and festivals. This is when the marketing and publicity comes in. they need to look for sponsors to sponsor these activities. Many will argue not even is our league sponsored so how can youth football be sponsored? But the reality is when we brand our football funding these activities will not be hard.
The GFF should partner with Secondary School Sports Association in organizing national inter-schools football championship just like they do in athletics. No science is needed to achieve this.
Age cheating/falsification (who to blame and what can be done)
Age cheating, should I say an African phenomenon or a global phenomenon? Whatever it is, it is a big problem in sports, football no exception. The current state of Gambian football cannot be separated from related age cheating or age falsification. The key question is who should be blamed; should it be the player, parent, club, academy or national associations?
To me I think lack of education is responsible for this menace. Not that people doing it are not educated but I think they don’t know the implications pretty well. Implications such as knowing the life span of a football player. Do people in football know that the average number of years one can spend in football as a players is 10 years, so given a 23year old 15years is damaging that said players career. Before that said player turn 26years where he is expected to be at his peak, he is nearing his mid thirty and preparing to hang his boots. So anyone involved in reducing the ages of the players must be weary of this.
Who should be blamed, I think we should blame everyone here. The player knows he is not the age he is claiming he is, his parents know, the coaches know and in case it was football association that prepared his passport, they should know that a player who plays in the league for two or more years in The Gambia cannot be less than 18years. So it is a holistic problem that everyone involved should take the blame.
Can it be eliminated, yes it can be. It can be eliminated if we refocus attention on the Center of Excellence, develop grassroots football and promote schools football. We must also forget immediate success because if that is our focus then we destroy the future.
Structured leagues
It is argued that the Gambian leagues are not well structured. Without a structured league, development is static because it becomes hard to attract spectators moreover sponsors. It has been hard of recent to see sponsors been attracted to Gambian football especially league football. The simple reason is that very few Gambians turn up to watch league football as opposed the annual summer football jamboree-Nawettaan.
This leaves many proposing that Super Nawettaan be transformed to The Gambia’s premier league because it attracts the crowd which lures sponsors to come. But again this will be a battle because established club owners who have made and are making a fortune from their clubs will not want to lose that opportunity. Where a club is run by one or two people who spend but yet pocket any income that comes in, it would be hard to give up this simple but sweet popularity and money making venture.
With the new constitution that gives the regions all rights to organize regional leagues, it becomes more and more difficult to organize football. Can this be done by the football federation alone? No, councils must invest in their own football associations for a successful regional league to be held.
When these regional leagues are very well organized, they will also be a breeding ground to our national leagues. In fact why can’t we have two teams from each administrative region to make a premier league where teams from the regions will travel to the Kombos and vice visa for matches? It sound bizarre but to have a national league that have a national character all regions must be involved. Will this attract more spectators, of course yes. Does it have the potential to generate sponsors, of course yes.
So why not go for it? I know it will take a drastic move but hey interested persons in a region can merge their resources to support their regions. They can buy shares and the fans can also own a share. Isn’t that committing people to support their regions and take ownership?
Part two of this write up which looks at Publicity/marketing and sponsorship, the role of the media, the role of the fans, administration and relationship between the NSC and GFF will come later. http://standard.gm/site/sports/3726-Gambia-nyato--football-What-have-how-can-improved-who-should-what-and-forth.html
By Sang Mendy/Producer/Presenter Mega Sports Bite on City Limits Radio
Gambia ‘la nyato-ta’ in football means the way forward for Gambian Football. In this write-up I singled out ten areas that are key in the Nyato-ta of Gambians football ranging from infrastructural development to how much the Gambia can gain from having a smooth and cordial relationship between football stakeholders and government authorities among other things.
Experts, scholars, football administrators, veteran journalists have all written about the way forward for Gambian football but I chose to add my views to the barrage of views and opinions been expressed in the past or even still being expressed.
The reason for penning my views down is as a result of the current state of football, a state no Gambian is happy about. It all began when The Gambia was thrown out of the African Youth Championship for using illegible players against Liberia. Three weeks later, the entire Gambian populace was shocked when CAF issued a universal ban on all our national teams for two years.
This was followed by the formation of a task force committee tasked to investigate whether the football authorities acted in negligence or deliberately by fielding in illegible players. The task force later felt there was some act of negligence and deliberate refusal to follow the regulations and expert advice before the match and thus recommend the voluntary resignations of certain executive members and relieving some staff off their duties or the National Sports Council will advise government to take a decision.
While consultations were on about some potential resignation and the possible sacking of some key staff, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Alieu K Jammeh, publicly announced the suspension of the president of The Gambia football federation and his top three vice presidents and put in place a rectification committee.
Two days later, the entire GFF executive who were in town were detained by the police for a week. Three other staff of the National Sports Council were also detained at the state central police station in Banjul while an investigation was mounted by the police; investigations to ascertain who put The Gambia in this precarious situation.
While these people were in police custody, stakeholders with voting right put league football activities across the country to a halt calling on the reinstatement of their executive.
As if all that was not enough, FIFA threaten to ban the Gambia if the elected members of the GFF are not reinstated. It was reported that FIFA have promised to spend about $700 000 in the Gambia on grassroots football development, refurbishment of the FIFA Gold Project and the construction of new artificial turf in Lower River Region coupled with periodic performance assessment to be carried out by FIFA officials.
Am I drifting away from my topic? Oh, I just thought I need to give a brief background of the way things unfold and the sequence they happened. But let me concentrate on the ‘Nyato-ta’ of Gambian football with special focus on the following salient points I intend to cover.
Infrastructural development
Infrastructure refers to the physical structure that is needed for the game to take place. ‘Mbay mingla yang’, what we talking about is the playing fields and or grounds or should I say mini stadia or parks. Are they available and accessible to the growing number of youngsters who have fallen in love with the game or are growing to love the game due to the successes some Gambians have got for themselves and the popularity they have given to The Gambia.
In my views, The Gambia needs more playing grounds, in fact not only grounds but standard playing grounds that can accommodate the thousands of young people all hoping to make a living off football. Looking at the current situation, The Gambia has five sub-standard mini stadia; KG5 in Banjul, Serekunda East and West, Manjai and Box Bar Mini Stadium in Brikama and one national stadium n Bakau. All these are centered in the urban area prompting many to ask is football in The Gambia for only urban people of even the rural people are part of it.
What should be done?
There should be more sub-standard mini stadia, if not standard ones to accommodate the number of people wanting to make a living off football. The more standard fields we have, the more the young are lured to play football. The more players we have in all categories, the better it becomes for The Gambia because with a pool of good players, the technicians are forced to select the best to represent the country.
Take for example the entire West Coast Region or should I just take Kombo North with three big villages such as Lamin, Sukuta and Brufut, there is no standard playing ground. In fact for Brufut, they did not even have a piece of land in case the chance to build a mini stadium is offered.
Who should do what?
The Gambia has so many places yet to have playing grounds, so sports committees should work with village heads and the ministry local government and land to identify strategic locations for mini stadia. Where the grounds are already available, the area councils should work with the various sports committees in collaboration with the ministry of youth and sports to invest heavily in these places so as to keep the young people engaged.
It is obvious that the sports committees cannot transform their grounds to what it is desired because they lack funds but with the support of both the area councils and the ministry of youth and sports, mini stadia like KG5, East and East, Manjai and Brikama can be transformed.
It must be said that some of these mini stadia mentioned here were sorely developed by committees, individuals, and FIFA with little support from the councils. Should we move and move quick in football, the councils and the ministry of youth and sports must put aside a budget to transform our stadia. I mean in all the regions, districts and villages. When we do that we curb possible crime, drug use and reduce health problems.
FIFA Goal Project (Technical Training Center)-Yundum
The FIFA Goal Project (Technical Training Center) in Yundum has been underutilized. It has never served any of its purpose. That is a project that should have graduated players representing The Gambia at international level but because it seems previous executives of the Gambia Football Association have no realistic plan for youth football development, they failed to utilize it thus leaving the structure as a white elephant project. At no given time have that complex been utilized leaving me wondering if we had administrators who knew the importance and the reason why FIFA spend thousands of dollars in that project.
As the name implies that center should have been the breeding grounds for Gambia’s national teams. I am tempted to ask, if The Gambia had utilized that project should we have been caught using illegible players for a tournament?
Anyway, it is better late than never so we most refocus our attention to that complex that has the potential to develop about hundred kinds every five years.
No wonder when the Mustapha Kebbeh’s led executive came into office, they sort funding from FIFA to refurbish the place with a view to start utilizing it. Yes refurbish but also keep it running for its purpose should be our target. If not, we are just going back to zero.
This is a place to host the country’s best in football where they will undergo technical and tactical training and as well go to school like any other child. While they are at this place, they will not be eating starchy and oily food which is bad for athletes because their diet will be control by a dietitian.
Players age 9-18 or 20 can be beneficiaries. Players who turn out to be flops should be dropped because the center should not keep players who will become liabilities but assets. Once we start utilizing this center for its purpose, we can start dreaming of qualifying for our first ever African Cup of Nations or even The World Cup.
It just strikes my mind to ask who should fund this complex. The compound is ours and we must invest in it. The fact that we have a parent in FIFA willing to give us funds does not mean we must fold our hands. Therefore, the ministry of youth and sports should come in with some funds to support in the maintenance of this complex that can play a big role in the development of our football.
Youth football (what many refer to as grassroots football)
I grew up hearing about school boy internationals but hardly do you see a school boy even playing for our junior teams since we started entering into the junior and youth competitions. This leaves me asking, do we have better and more honest administrators in those days than now or was football better administered in those days than now? Research has shown that most of those school boy internationals The Gambia was boasting about were spotted out from school competitions and youth football festivals.
Why aren’t we having more school boy internationals now that we have a bigger population, better trained coaches, well exposed administrators, football clinics and more schools?
I am with the conviction that with football jamborees and festivals involving schools and football clinics and with a well-organized youth leagues for the first division league clubs, selecting players for the Center of Excellence will not be a herculean task.
We need not go far to understudy how a youth league can be organized because we can just stop at Senegal to learn a lot. They have a well-organized youth league so why not go there to understudy them. Concerning putting up football jamborees and festivals to scout for the Center of Excellence, a plan has already been developed by the technical department of the GFF to host over 240 kids both boys and girls but that plan must be put into practice.
Yes, I know the next thing you are calculating in your mind is who will foot the bill for the jamborees and festivals. This is when the marketing and publicity comes in. they need to look for sponsors to sponsor these activities. Many will argue not even is our league sponsored so how can youth football be sponsored? But the reality is when we brand our football funding these activities will not be hard.
The GFF should partner with Secondary School Sports Association in organizing national inter-schools football championship just like they do in athletics. No science is needed to achieve this.
Age cheating/falsification (who to blame and what can be done)
Age cheating, should I say an African phenomenon or a global phenomenon? Whatever it is, it is a big problem in sports, football no exception. The current state of Gambian football cannot be separated from related age cheating or age falsification. The key question is who should be blamed; should it be the player, parent, club, academy or national associations?
To me I think lack of education is responsible for this menace. Not that people doing it are not educated but I think they don’t know the implications pretty well. Implications such as knowing the life span of a football player. Do people in football know that the average number of years one can spend in football as a players is 10 years, so given a 23year old 15years is damaging that said players career. Before that said player turn 26years where he is expected to be at his peak, he is nearing his mid thirty and preparing to hang his boots. So anyone involved in reducing the ages of the players must be weary of this.
Who should be blamed, I think we should blame everyone here. The player knows he is not the age he is claiming he is, his parents know, the coaches know and in case it was football association that prepared his passport, they should know that a player who plays in the league for two or more years in The Gambia cannot be less than 18years. So it is a holistic problem that everyone involved should take the blame.
Can it be eliminated, yes it can be. It can be eliminated if we refocus attention on the Center of Excellence, develop grassroots football and promote schools football. We must also forget immediate success because if that is our focus then we destroy the future.
Structured leagues
It is argued that the Gambian leagues are not well structured. Without a structured league, development is static because it becomes hard to attract spectators moreover sponsors. It has been hard of recent to see sponsors been attracted to Gambian football especially league football. The simple reason is that very few Gambians turn up to watch league football as opposed the annual summer football jamboree-Nawettaan.
This leaves many proposing that Super Nawettaan be transformed to The Gambia’s premier league because it attracts the crowd which lures sponsors to come. But again this will be a battle because established club owners who have made and are making a fortune from their clubs will not want to lose that opportunity. Where a club is run by one or two people who spend but yet pocket any income that comes in, it would be hard to give up this simple but sweet popularity and money making venture.
With the new constitution that gives the regions all rights to organize regional leagues, it becomes more and more difficult to organize football. Can this be done by the football federation alone? No, councils must invest in their own football associations for a successful regional league to be held.
When these regional leagues are very well organized, they will also be a breeding ground to our national leagues. In fact why can’t we have two teams from each administrative region to make a premier league where teams from the regions will travel to the Kombos and vice visa for matches? It sound bizarre but to have a national league that have a national character all regions must be involved. Will this attract more spectators, of course yes. Does it have the potential to generate sponsors, of course yes.
So why not go for it? I know it will take a drastic move but hey interested persons in a region can merge their resources to support their regions. They can buy shares and the fans can also own a share. Isn’t that committing people to support their regions and take ownership?
Part two of this write up which looks at Publicity/marketing and sponsorship, the role of the media, the role of the fans, administration and relationship between the NSC and GFF will come later. http://standard.gm/site/sports/3726-Gambia-nyato--football-What-have-how-can-improved-who-should-what-and-forth.html
The 4G’s in Gambian Football: “for the Good of The Gambia” and “for the Good of the Game”.
By Mustapha Wadda
Nna Gambia News has no word added or subtracted anything from Mustapha’s commentary.
The Gambian football fraternity presently may be divided into three distinct groups. Group one can be further divided into two sections. Section one of Group One can be described as the ‘Old Guard’ and most of the people belonging to this section are old to middle age persons. They are very important figures in Gambian football history and most of them own or control football clubs in the existing GFA League. They are presently in control of Gambian football in the form of being members of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
It will be a big mistake to underrate or underestimate the contribution the old guards have made in community, national or internationally. We must respect them and honour them but we must also acknowledge the fact that they are human beings and so are prone to self-interest and mistakes. The biggest problem being, how, for many years, they used the Regional representatives and their clubs to control the executive of the GFA and prevent the decentralization of Gambian football in the process.
To justify and retain control of the GFA and Gambian football the old guard developed some concepts for football development in the country for FIFA, CAF, The Gambia Government, the Gambian people and the media. It was common to hear:
1.The provincial clubs are not yet ready to join the GFA League because in the past clubs from the provinces were beaten 18 to 0 by Banjul based football clubs.
2. Proper football field infrastructure does not exist in the provinces
3. The provincial road network and transport system is not good
4. And so on
It was also an open secret that some people of the old guard believed that “they eat breath and live football so football in The Gambia belongs to them. This concept originally started in Banjul with the people of Banjul but has spread to KM and today in some areas of the WCR mainly due to migration and influences by the people of Banjul. It was also not strange to see people who originally came from the provinces (e.g. as far as Basse) but used sports as a spring board for political or social advancement joining or being part of this group.
Political and social advancement is still a factor in Gambian sports but recently those factors have been overshadowed with the increased wealth in the game of football. There is a lot of money in football today and a good player is worth millions of Dallasis in the international football market, hence, the drive to reduce the potential competition from provincial clubs. This is one of the reasons the old guard have resisted the decentralization of our football and the professionalism of our football leagues.
The other reason is simply because they did not know how; because no serious pressure or study have been put on them or made to decentralize or professionalize league football until now. Instead of putting forward the FIFA influenced proposed constitution for consideration by the clubs and Gambian people they decided to doctor a constitution that further isolate the Regions (That constitution was rejected by FIFA and all sectors of the football fraternity). But perhaps the Normalizing Committee did not understand or maybe they misinterpreted the FIFA influenced proposed constitution.
It is important to mention at this point that when, in 1885 the English FA legalized professionalism, and when Aston Villa director William McGregor organized a meeting of representatives of England's leading clubs, this led to the formation of the Football League in 1888. The football fields and road networks in England was worse than the state of Gambian football fields and road network today but that did not stop them from developing the beautiful game or from clubs traveling all over England to play League football. The rules and conditions that came with professionalism and competition forced local authorities, communities, football clubs and private sectors investors to provide funds for the construction of sports infrastructure and road networks.
Section two of Group One can be described as the ‘Middle Guard’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian football history and most of them own, control or manage football clubs in the existing GFA League. They controlled Gambian football during the last seven years until they were sacked by the Min. of Youths and Sports and replaced by the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
In fact, the middle guard was trained and promoted by the old guard to take over from them but the middle guard was in a hurry to take over power and when they saw some infighting amongst the old guard they decided to make their move. The middle guards played them against each other then push all of them aside, so some of the old guard felt betrayed, hence, the negative tension between them. Presently, it seems like the old guard have maneuvered their way back to power with the formation of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
There is no difference, in concept, objective or ambition, between sections one and two in group one just differences in interest and personality. The middle guard was elected into power mainly on the bases that the existing constitution will be revised and reformed to decentralize and professionalize football. The President of the GFA was elected precisely because he was from the provinces, despite the fact that he was a ‘trainee’ of the old guard and later was the owner of a GFA League club and despite the fact that he with his GFA executive worked with FIFA in formulating the first FIFA influenced proposed constitution.
It was not, however, in his interest to change anything in our football over the seven years he was President, hence, the frustration of the Gambian people and the Min. of Youth and Sports. Resigning their post after being removed was the safest thing to do because of their failure to deliver their promises. Presently, because they cannot really defend and justify themselves, the middle guard are engaged in character assassinations and petty exposure of the Min. of Youth and Sports and certain members of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
In their imaginary fear of losing their standing, influence and even clubs if decentralization and professionalism is practiced by the realization of the FIFA influenced proposed constitution the middle guard have mobilized some of the existing GFA League clubs and formed an association (the Football League Association) to resist the proposed constitution while pretending that it is the personnel’s in the Normalizing Committee that they are really against.
Section one of Group two can be described as the ‘Regional Middle Guard (RMG)’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian Regional football history and most of them own, control or manage nawettan centers in the provinces and football clubs in the existing Regional League. This section one of group two includes most of the Sports Chairpersons in the provinces.
They were at one time in GFA Executive elections between the old guard used to favour one opponent against another. Two to three of the old guards used it very effectively against their rivals but it was last used by the middle guard to push out the old guard after convincing the RMG’s that the old guard was only using them.
The RMG are mainly football lovers from the provinces controlling/owning nawettan centers/Regional League clubs or people from the Grater Banjul Area (GBA) who migrated to the provinces and became sports chairperson or have a regional football club. They have for many years put their hopes, and total trust in both the Old and middle guard to change the status-quo, but to no avail. Their lack of knowledge of their constitutional rights and power has allowed themselves to be used many times by the old and middle guard. It is hoped that this time round they will stand up for their constitutional rights.
Section two of Group two can be described as the ‘Regional New Guard (RNG)’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian Regional football history and most of them own, control or manage nawettan centers in the provinces and football clubs in the existing Regional League. This section two of group two includes a few of the Sports Chairpersons in the provinces.
The RNG are mainly football lovers from the provinces controlling/owning nawettan centers/Regional League clubs or people from the Grater Banjul Area (GBA) who migrated to the provinces and became sports chairperson or have a regional football club. Some of them have been fooled once or twice but are determined not to be fooled again, especially, by the Middle Guard and their GFA League club owners from the provinces. They have studied the proposed new constitution and have decided that it a step in the right direction and are determined to adopt it if it is not doctored.
However, this group is yet to be convinced of the sincerity of the old guard because they sent out a constitution which is still titled the ‘GFA’ and yet they go around announcing the formation of the Gambia Football Federation, the increase in the number of National First and Second Division clubs, etc. Which is which? When you are the bearer of something you don’t really want to bear you create confusion.
I apologies, sincerely, if I have offended or hurt anybody by the above mentioned analysis of the history or events of Gambian football. The true intention was to get to the truth so if anybody feels that what has been said is wrong or misunderstood in any way you are welcome to put it right with facts and figures. The other intention is also to bring about understanding by Gambians of what really is going on in our football and form the basis of reconciliation between the various groups that are presently controlling our football.
One thing which is common and certain to all those groups mentioned above is that they love their country and the beautiful game; but they may have allowed their personal interest and/or lack of knowledge of sports sometimes comes in the way of the 4G’s: “for the Good of The Gambia” and “for the Good of the Game”.
The Third Group can be described as the rest of the Gambian football family and may include but not limited to:
1. Sponsors and The Media Practitioners
Despite its failure, the National Sports Policy, 1999 to 2008, which was prepared by the Department of State for Youths and Sports and sponsored by UNDP did make some profound observations and recommendations; in the following, for example:
“While the private sector has been providing sponsorship to some sporting activities, there is a great potential for such assistant to be increased and provided on a regular bases. However, in order for the private sector to increase its financial sponsorship, there is a need for a partnership to be fogged between government, the private sector and other stakeholders. Such partnership can only be strengthened and sustain if there is mutual benefit in the relationship.
The private sector is primarily motivated by profit consideration and if they do not anticipate financial benefits in the long run, there sponsorship will not be generous or provided on regular bases. The concept of ownership and partnership by all stakeholders should therefore underpin the policy objectives and strategy for financing sport promotion and development”.
The Policy then recommended the following objectives:
1. To establish partnership in the financing of sports among all stake holders.
2. To encourage private sector financial sponsorship through tax incentive
3. To encourage sports associations and other sporting bodies to engage in fund raising activities and business ventures.
In Gambian football, for example, there is little or no private sector investment, because there is no or little support base (fan clubs, spectators, etc) for the existing GFA League clubs, therefore, no meaningful media interest (e.g. GRTS is not interested in entering into a TV Rights deal directly with the GFA League clubs).
When the Western Union Company studied the situation in The Gambia, for their sponsorship of sports, they decided to sponsor the Nawettan matches and the Super Nawettan Tournaments, because outside international matches, the nawettan matches are the most popular football tournament in the Gambia in terms of the number of spectators. For our football to develop and become an industry we must involve the local communities and that can only be done if National League competitions name and features community based clubs.
In order for football to become an industry, it requires the participation of the whole country. One would have to imagine at first, football clubs like, Fatoto FC, Basse FC, Bansang FC, Jangjangbureh FC, Brikamaba FC, Kudang FC, Brikama FC and Lamin FC, etc, and within Banjul, Karnifing Municipality (KM) and Western Coast Region, you could have 20 or more football clubs. One could also imagine all these clubs with their own sports fields or mini stadiums.
Sponsorship required to meeting the expenditure of the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League maybe direct or indirect. Both approaches are examined below:
A. Direct Sponsorship: While the ease of raising substantial funds probably depends on the degree of economic development in a country, the basic principal of fund raising by donations are the same for any country. An appeal may have several facets. For example, approaches to central and local government departments and agencies, commercial companies, wealthy individuals, charitable-Trusts and Foundations, voluntary and social organizations (e.g., Rotary Club).
In practice, finding sponsors by small promotion organizations like Sports Promotion, Integration and Cooperation with private Enterprises (SPICE) in small developing countries like The Gambia, where the purchasing power of the population is low, may be difficult. But there have been many successful sporting sponsorship deals over recent years and so sports must be an attractive vehicle for many commercial organizations. Corporations can often be encouraged to sponsor a sports project, such as the proposed Regional Leagues, in return for some value they perceive they will get in return. That perceived value, maybe that they are a contributor to the game of domestic football.
They may contribute to demonstrate community support, good corporate citizenship, to generate positive visibility for a product or service (and thereby increase sales), to generate media exposure, or to compete with other companies outside of direct advertising. These corporations, then, do not wish to be anonymous donors. They want value for their financial involvement. Sponsors can provide cash, or product (Gift in Kind or GIK) or a combination of these.
Before any sponsor is considered SPICE must look carefully at what exactly the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League has to offer a sponsor and establish clearly what the benefit to a sponsor will be. No longer are companies willing to donate money for no commercial return.
B.Indirect Sponsorship: Television, it is universally accepted, has played a major role in the popularization and rapid development of league football (for example, SKY Television and the English Premier League) in many counties. The SKY Television agreement with the Premier League, when it was first signed was worth £191,000,000 pounds over five seasons. The next contract rose to £670,000,000 pounds over four seasons. The Premier League last £1,024 Billion pound deal with B SKY B runs over the course of three seasons from August 2004. All this, for a League, that only began in 1992.
Television is the means by which most Gambians see and experience football. For this reason, SPICE and the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League Company’s main objective is to ensure that broadcast of the proposed Leagues is available to the whole of The Gambia. GRTS, the only television station in the country presently will be our partner in this endeavor. However, the possibility of cable sports TV, where the customer purchases a decoder and pays a monthly fee for a card will be examined,
2.Central government and local authorities
According to the National Sports Policy, 1999 t0 2008,"The provision of the enhanced sporting facilities should encourage and broaden the availability of and access to these facilities by communities and thereby encourage the participation in physical fitness and sports by a wide cross section of people of all ages and abilities". It was mentioned that the overall objectives of the Sports policy would depend mainly on the capacity of the sporting associations in partnership with public and private sector entities.
Despite mentioning and recognizing the Central Government on sports as mainly facilitators, the Action Plan targeted the Central Government as the main actor for the implementation of the Policy. The attitude of most Central Government official and members of sporting association in The Gambia (including the Normalizing Committee members), past and present, despite saying that government cannot do everything depends and think that Central Government should do everything in sports.
They think that it is the responsibility of Central Government to build stadiums all over the Regions, organize and administer sports all over the country, provide sporting facilities in all sports fields, pay all the expenditure of national sports clubs and individuals, etc. This is not the way things happen even in the most developed countries. Sports development, especially football/soccer was/is mainly developed by community participation, local government authorities, private business ownership/sponsorship, etc, not Central Government.
The word is partnership/participation not interference/control of sports from FIFA and CAF in football.The social, economical and cultural benefit of the development of the above mentioned clubs within their respective areas should not be underrated. Besides creating nationwide professional football players, managers, trainers etc, the game will:
a. Reduce rural to urban migration of the youths of the country.
b. Build mini stadiums all over the country; hence create work for local construction industries and business.
c. Reduce tribalism and increase positive zonal, divisional and regional unity.
d. Reduce political tension.
e. Develop transport, clothing and food industries all over the country.
f. Thousand of peoples all over the country will be employed directly or indirectly.
g. Improve the Health and welfare of Gambians of all ages and sex.
Not all the benefits can be mentioned here. But in order to achieve our goals and objectives in national football, we need to create new tournaments and new leagues that are national in character and sustainable in nature.
The proposed new Regional Leagues will not only develop the game, form the basis for the Gambian Super/Premier League, but will also:
1) Give a lot of youths, from all over the country, a chance to participate in the game, earn money and become local football stars.
2) Increase community participation and popularity in the game.
3) Encourage the development of mini-stadiums, while improving the existing football fields by the private sector and local governments.
4) Encourage the private sector to invest in local football clubs and other sporting infrastructures and facilities.
5) Reduce the tension in the football family between those within the GBA and the rest of the Regions in this country.
6) The introduction of the Premier League in England not only made the English league the best and richest in the world but also helped the British economy as a whole. The introduction of the New Gambia Football Federation (GFF) Zonal, Regional and National football League should have the same effect, God Willing.
In a recent speak at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, KM, and during a reconciliation meeting between the GFA Normalizing Committee and the Regional Organizing Committee (ROC), on Tuesday, 21st August, 2012, Mr. Alieu Jammeh, the Minister of Youth and Sports said, “there is a bright future for football in this country because of the issues we are looking at to restructure the game. We want to strengthen the academies, go to the grassroots and see a real football there because we believe that is where you tap talents; as well we also want to restructure the league to be a more professional league.
He also said, “You see people putting on shirts of other clubs bearing the names of players of other countries. We want a situation in The Gambia where if you mention a club people can be attached to that club so that when that club is playing that category of people will go and watch them”. It is very difficult and unnatural to form a professional league when the football clubs participating in it are not professional clubs. Therefore, as mentioned above successful national football leagues must fulfill the above mentioned five basic conditions to succeed.
I think this is a good time to discuss the difference between professionalism and amateurism in relationship to football. Professionalism means doing things on a formal basis and for monetary return/reward. It means the league clubs and their national football association must have a constitution and is registered with the government (e.g. National Sports Council), their players must all register with the club and national football association, players are paid, the national association and clubs must have a registered office and ‘home ground’ football field.
These clubs normally have registered fans clubs and are sponsored. The league they participate in is also registered as a business and sponsored with a TV Rights agreement between the league and the TV owners. The GFA fall short of representing most of the football clubs in The Gambia and most of the clubs participating in the GFA league are not registered as a business, do not have their own football field where they can play home matches, do not have their own office, do not have a registered fans club and, mostly are not sponsored and the League has yet to enter into a deal with a TV station.
Amateurism means doing things on an informal basis and usually for non-monetary gain and/or on a voluntary basis. It is normally not registered anywhere even as a charitable organization. It is almost the complete opposite of professionalism. As you can see The GFA is yet to legalize professionalism, therefore, in terms of legalized professionalism The Gambia is (2012-1885) 127 years behind England.
Unfortunately, our Normalizing Committee does not seem to be committed to legalizing professionalism and to the formation of a nationwide Super Football League; otherwise, they would have done what Aston Villa director William McGregor did and organize a meeting of representatives of Gambian football clubs (GFA League, Regional and Nawettan clubs) before presenting any proposed GFA Constitution.
3. Promoters
Most sports promoters, like SPICE,believe that, government departments, private companies, etc, should not be named after professional football clubs (for example, Gamtel FC, Ports Authority FC, Interior FC, Quantum Associate FC, LG FC, etc).They may owned a football club, enter into long term deals with clubs, sponsor tournaments, leagues, etc, but they should never name a professional football club after themselves.
The Super Nawettan Tournament has proven to be the most popular domestic football tournament in the Gambia, yet, the events development is hampered by the fact that;
a) Only 10 football clubs (of which 95% of the clubs participating are from the Greater Banjul Area) are participating.
b) It is a tournament not a league.
c) It has not been given its proper importance by the GFA.
d) The event is not well advertised to increase spectators and sponsorship.
e) Security, especially, at local grounds is normally very poor.
f) GFA League club players are allowed to participate in the event.
From a promoters point of view football today is recognized as one of the largest industry in the world. The game is highly developed in countries where:
a. The teams are located and named after medium or large population centers
b. The teams and their football associations take up a national characteristic.
c. The teams each have their own football field, stadium or share one.
d. The teams have a large support base (fan club), hence; attract the necessary sponsorship and media promotion.
e. The National League matches are televised live.
None of the Gambian football clubs or GFA League has any of the above-mentioned criteria (except for Brikama United which has only two of the above mentioned criteria’s) and if any one of the five above mentioned criteria is missing success will be difficult to achieve.
4. Fan Clubs and Spectators
Poor attendance at GFA league matches is mainly due to:
a. Most of the GFA league football clubs are not community-based clubs, hence, have no support base (fan club) or attract long term sponsorship. Brikama United FC is the only exception to this situation.
b. 99% of the GFA league clubs do not have their own football field; hence, they are playing on borrowed field. There is no home and away match.
c. Lack of infrastructure and facilities, such as pavilions, changing rooms, toilets, fence, etc in most football fields in The Gambia.
A large fan club and ownership of a football stadium by a football club is a key ingredient for the development of any football club, and for the league of any country. As mention in our articles football is basically a community based sport. Community participation is essential for the club to perform well and to be successful financially and socially. Without the fan clubs, players will not perform to expectation, stadiums will not be filled to capacity, sponsors and promoters will not be interested.
Clubs like Manchester United FC, Liverpool FC, Barcelona FC, Chelsea FC, Real Madrid FC, etc, have clearly demonstrated this. Change the names of these clubs to the owner of these clubs and you will get a negative effect. This negative effect is what is presently happening with our existing GFA League and League clubs. The lacks of fan clubs for most of the existing GFA League clubs reduce the pressure to build stadiums and develop existing football fields. Without the fan clubs, sponsors and promoters are not interested enough to invest money into clubs, sport centers and football players.
Proposed ‘FIFA’ Constitution and League Structures
This present proposed FIFA Constitution is worlds apart from the previous GFA Normalizing Committee Constitution which proves that some members of the Normalizing Committee do not really support the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, hence, the confusion. The constitution that is presented on paper and the one presented on radios and on the newspapers are completely different.
The officially presented “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, speaks of ‘Constitution of the GFA’, 12 First Division National League clubs, 10 Second National League clubs, while the spokesperson of the GFA Normalizing Committee speaks of the proposed Gambia Football Federation (GFF), increasing the existing GFF League to 16 clubs, etc.
Other crucial questions that need to be answered by the GFA Normalizing Committee are:
1. If and when is the next AGM of the GFA going to be held and where?
2. If it is going to be held, is the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, going to be only discussed or adopted for the coming GFA/GFF Congress using the old GFA Constitution?
3. If not when are we going to finalize/reject or adopt the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012
4. The Regional League and clubs, God Willing, should reach international standards of National League Football within 2 to 3 years. How can a professional Regional League club participate in an armature league (which the present GFA League clearly is going by international standards of National League Football)?
The football stakeholders should seriously consider having a Super/Premier League of 16 clubs included in the constitution. The Super/Premier League of 16 clubs which can run alongside the existing GFA League, will solve many of Gambian present structural, management, administrational and financial problems, as well as, encourage investment by the private sector in sports infrastructure and facilities. Most of the future community based clubs already have their own football fields and have the potential for attracting large fan clubs. Sponsorship and media interest for these clubs is only a matter of time and organization.
Proposed New League Strategy
According to Wikipedia, “The Football League, established in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor, was the first professional football league in the world. Since its founding, however, many other leagues have been founded in England. Over the years there has been an increasing effort to link all these leagues together in a Pyramidal structure allowing promotion and relegation between different levels.
The primary motivation for this drive is to maintain the possibility that any club in England may dream of one day rising to the very top, no matter what status they currently hold. In a study made by FIFA in 2006 there are around 40,000 clubs registered with the FA, which is 11,000 more than any other country, the closest being the Brazilian Football Confederation who has 29,000 registered clubs. Even without taking relative population into account, England has more football clubs than any other country in the world.”
The primary motivation of the old and middle guards in Gambia football was to protect existing GFA League clubs residing within the Greater Banjul Area, prevent clubs from the Regional Leagues from entering the GFA League Divisions and to help GFA League clubs sell players to international clubs. Even today there is effort to prevent the GFA League, the Regional League and the Nawettan League from linking together ‘in a Pyramidal structure.’
So the drive ‘to maintain the possibility that any club in The Gambia may dream of one day rising to the very top, no matter what status they currently hold’ does not exist in The Gambia presently. For the League to have a Pyramidal structure the existing GFA League must be changed. Below I have presented three alternatives of a National League Structures for consideration:
Premier/Super League
The Premier/Super League is to be Gambian Football's top clubs. All the clubs have their own football field or have access to one as their home ground, all matches are played home and away, all the clubs are registered as a business, etc. A links with the Regional Football League and the existing GFA 1st and 2nd Division will be establish, and each season the bottom three clubs are relegated from the Premier/Super League and replaced by two from the proposed Regional League and one from the GFA 1st Division or 2nd Division.
The Premier/Super League is contested between 16 clubs each season. Each club in the Premier/Super League in any given season owns one tenth of a share in the league itself, meaning that they are all supposedly equal owners with equal rights and responsibilities.”
Regional League
The Regional League will be ranked second in the hierarchy of Gambian football because the Regional will become the first professional league in The Gambia and the clubs participating in it the first professional clubs. The Regional League has 12 member clubs (Banjul/KM, WCR, NBR, URR, LRR, CRR) with each of the six Municipality/region providing two clubs each to play in the Regional League Championship.
The conditions or criteria required to qualify for participation in the Regional League will make it difficult for many clubs within the existing GFA League to participate. A regional clubs must be professional, have their own football field, named after a community, be able to play home and away matches, belong to a professional league, etc, etc.
The GFA Football League
“Although the oldest league in The Gambia, The GFA Football League should rank third in the hierarchy of Gambian football after the coming into effect of the proposed FIFA influenced football constitution.
Nna Gambia News has no word added or subtracted anything from Mustapha’s commentary.
The Gambian football fraternity presently may be divided into three distinct groups. Group one can be further divided into two sections. Section one of Group One can be described as the ‘Old Guard’ and most of the people belonging to this section are old to middle age persons. They are very important figures in Gambian football history and most of them own or control football clubs in the existing GFA League. They are presently in control of Gambian football in the form of being members of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
It will be a big mistake to underrate or underestimate the contribution the old guards have made in community, national or internationally. We must respect them and honour them but we must also acknowledge the fact that they are human beings and so are prone to self-interest and mistakes. The biggest problem being, how, for many years, they used the Regional representatives and their clubs to control the executive of the GFA and prevent the decentralization of Gambian football in the process.
To justify and retain control of the GFA and Gambian football the old guard developed some concepts for football development in the country for FIFA, CAF, The Gambia Government, the Gambian people and the media. It was common to hear:
1.The provincial clubs are not yet ready to join the GFA League because in the past clubs from the provinces were beaten 18 to 0 by Banjul based football clubs.
2. Proper football field infrastructure does not exist in the provinces
3. The provincial road network and transport system is not good
4. And so on
It was also an open secret that some people of the old guard believed that “they eat breath and live football so football in The Gambia belongs to them. This concept originally started in Banjul with the people of Banjul but has spread to KM and today in some areas of the WCR mainly due to migration and influences by the people of Banjul. It was also not strange to see people who originally came from the provinces (e.g. as far as Basse) but used sports as a spring board for political or social advancement joining or being part of this group.
Political and social advancement is still a factor in Gambian sports but recently those factors have been overshadowed with the increased wealth in the game of football. There is a lot of money in football today and a good player is worth millions of Dallasis in the international football market, hence, the drive to reduce the potential competition from provincial clubs. This is one of the reasons the old guard have resisted the decentralization of our football and the professionalism of our football leagues.
The other reason is simply because they did not know how; because no serious pressure or study have been put on them or made to decentralize or professionalize league football until now. Instead of putting forward the FIFA influenced proposed constitution for consideration by the clubs and Gambian people they decided to doctor a constitution that further isolate the Regions (That constitution was rejected by FIFA and all sectors of the football fraternity). But perhaps the Normalizing Committee did not understand or maybe they misinterpreted the FIFA influenced proposed constitution.
It is important to mention at this point that when, in 1885 the English FA legalized professionalism, and when Aston Villa director William McGregor organized a meeting of representatives of England's leading clubs, this led to the formation of the Football League in 1888. The football fields and road networks in England was worse than the state of Gambian football fields and road network today but that did not stop them from developing the beautiful game or from clubs traveling all over England to play League football. The rules and conditions that came with professionalism and competition forced local authorities, communities, football clubs and private sectors investors to provide funds for the construction of sports infrastructure and road networks.
Section two of Group One can be described as the ‘Middle Guard’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian football history and most of them own, control or manage football clubs in the existing GFA League. They controlled Gambian football during the last seven years until they were sacked by the Min. of Youths and Sports and replaced by the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
In fact, the middle guard was trained and promoted by the old guard to take over from them but the middle guard was in a hurry to take over power and when they saw some infighting amongst the old guard they decided to make their move. The middle guards played them against each other then push all of them aside, so some of the old guard felt betrayed, hence, the negative tension between them. Presently, it seems like the old guard have maneuvered their way back to power with the formation of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
There is no difference, in concept, objective or ambition, between sections one and two in group one just differences in interest and personality. The middle guard was elected into power mainly on the bases that the existing constitution will be revised and reformed to decentralize and professionalize football. The President of the GFA was elected precisely because he was from the provinces, despite the fact that he was a ‘trainee’ of the old guard and later was the owner of a GFA League club and despite the fact that he with his GFA executive worked with FIFA in formulating the first FIFA influenced proposed constitution.
It was not, however, in his interest to change anything in our football over the seven years he was President, hence, the frustration of the Gambian people and the Min. of Youth and Sports. Resigning their post after being removed was the safest thing to do because of their failure to deliver their promises. Presently, because they cannot really defend and justify themselves, the middle guard are engaged in character assassinations and petty exposure of the Min. of Youth and Sports and certain members of the Normalizing Committee of the GFA.
In their imaginary fear of losing their standing, influence and even clubs if decentralization and professionalism is practiced by the realization of the FIFA influenced proposed constitution the middle guard have mobilized some of the existing GFA League clubs and formed an association (the Football League Association) to resist the proposed constitution while pretending that it is the personnel’s in the Normalizing Committee that they are really against.
Section one of Group two can be described as the ‘Regional Middle Guard (RMG)’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian Regional football history and most of them own, control or manage nawettan centers in the provinces and football clubs in the existing Regional League. This section one of group two includes most of the Sports Chairpersons in the provinces.
They were at one time in GFA Executive elections between the old guard used to favour one opponent against another. Two to three of the old guards used it very effectively against their rivals but it was last used by the middle guard to push out the old guard after convincing the RMG’s that the old guard was only using them.
The RMG are mainly football lovers from the provinces controlling/owning nawettan centers/Regional League clubs or people from the Grater Banjul Area (GBA) who migrated to the provinces and became sports chairperson or have a regional football club. They have for many years put their hopes, and total trust in both the Old and middle guard to change the status-quo, but to no avail. Their lack of knowledge of their constitutional rights and power has allowed themselves to be used many times by the old and middle guard. It is hoped that this time round they will stand up for their constitutional rights.
Section two of Group two can be described as the ‘Regional New Guard (RNG)’ and most of the people belonging to this section are middle age to young. Some of them are very important figures in Gambian Regional football history and most of them own, control or manage nawettan centers in the provinces and football clubs in the existing Regional League. This section two of group two includes a few of the Sports Chairpersons in the provinces.
The RNG are mainly football lovers from the provinces controlling/owning nawettan centers/Regional League clubs or people from the Grater Banjul Area (GBA) who migrated to the provinces and became sports chairperson or have a regional football club. Some of them have been fooled once or twice but are determined not to be fooled again, especially, by the Middle Guard and their GFA League club owners from the provinces. They have studied the proposed new constitution and have decided that it a step in the right direction and are determined to adopt it if it is not doctored.
However, this group is yet to be convinced of the sincerity of the old guard because they sent out a constitution which is still titled the ‘GFA’ and yet they go around announcing the formation of the Gambia Football Federation, the increase in the number of National First and Second Division clubs, etc. Which is which? When you are the bearer of something you don’t really want to bear you create confusion.
I apologies, sincerely, if I have offended or hurt anybody by the above mentioned analysis of the history or events of Gambian football. The true intention was to get to the truth so if anybody feels that what has been said is wrong or misunderstood in any way you are welcome to put it right with facts and figures. The other intention is also to bring about understanding by Gambians of what really is going on in our football and form the basis of reconciliation between the various groups that are presently controlling our football.
One thing which is common and certain to all those groups mentioned above is that they love their country and the beautiful game; but they may have allowed their personal interest and/or lack of knowledge of sports sometimes comes in the way of the 4G’s: “for the Good of The Gambia” and “for the Good of the Game”.
The Third Group can be described as the rest of the Gambian football family and may include but not limited to:
1. Sponsors and The Media Practitioners
Despite its failure, the National Sports Policy, 1999 to 2008, which was prepared by the Department of State for Youths and Sports and sponsored by UNDP did make some profound observations and recommendations; in the following, for example:
“While the private sector has been providing sponsorship to some sporting activities, there is a great potential for such assistant to be increased and provided on a regular bases. However, in order for the private sector to increase its financial sponsorship, there is a need for a partnership to be fogged between government, the private sector and other stakeholders. Such partnership can only be strengthened and sustain if there is mutual benefit in the relationship.
The private sector is primarily motivated by profit consideration and if they do not anticipate financial benefits in the long run, there sponsorship will not be generous or provided on regular bases. The concept of ownership and partnership by all stakeholders should therefore underpin the policy objectives and strategy for financing sport promotion and development”.
The Policy then recommended the following objectives:
1. To establish partnership in the financing of sports among all stake holders.
2. To encourage private sector financial sponsorship through tax incentive
3. To encourage sports associations and other sporting bodies to engage in fund raising activities and business ventures.
In Gambian football, for example, there is little or no private sector investment, because there is no or little support base (fan clubs, spectators, etc) for the existing GFA League clubs, therefore, no meaningful media interest (e.g. GRTS is not interested in entering into a TV Rights deal directly with the GFA League clubs).
When the Western Union Company studied the situation in The Gambia, for their sponsorship of sports, they decided to sponsor the Nawettan matches and the Super Nawettan Tournaments, because outside international matches, the nawettan matches are the most popular football tournament in the Gambia in terms of the number of spectators. For our football to develop and become an industry we must involve the local communities and that can only be done if National League competitions name and features community based clubs.
In order for football to become an industry, it requires the participation of the whole country. One would have to imagine at first, football clubs like, Fatoto FC, Basse FC, Bansang FC, Jangjangbureh FC, Brikamaba FC, Kudang FC, Brikama FC and Lamin FC, etc, and within Banjul, Karnifing Municipality (KM) and Western Coast Region, you could have 20 or more football clubs. One could also imagine all these clubs with their own sports fields or mini stadiums.
Sponsorship required to meeting the expenditure of the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League maybe direct or indirect. Both approaches are examined below:
A. Direct Sponsorship: While the ease of raising substantial funds probably depends on the degree of economic development in a country, the basic principal of fund raising by donations are the same for any country. An appeal may have several facets. For example, approaches to central and local government departments and agencies, commercial companies, wealthy individuals, charitable-Trusts and Foundations, voluntary and social organizations (e.g., Rotary Club).
In practice, finding sponsors by small promotion organizations like Sports Promotion, Integration and Cooperation with private Enterprises (SPICE) in small developing countries like The Gambia, where the purchasing power of the population is low, may be difficult. But there have been many successful sporting sponsorship deals over recent years and so sports must be an attractive vehicle for many commercial organizations. Corporations can often be encouraged to sponsor a sports project, such as the proposed Regional Leagues, in return for some value they perceive they will get in return. That perceived value, maybe that they are a contributor to the game of domestic football.
They may contribute to demonstrate community support, good corporate citizenship, to generate positive visibility for a product or service (and thereby increase sales), to generate media exposure, or to compete with other companies outside of direct advertising. These corporations, then, do not wish to be anonymous donors. They want value for their financial involvement. Sponsors can provide cash, or product (Gift in Kind or GIK) or a combination of these.
Before any sponsor is considered SPICE must look carefully at what exactly the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League has to offer a sponsor and establish clearly what the benefit to a sponsor will be. No longer are companies willing to donate money for no commercial return.
B.Indirect Sponsorship: Television, it is universally accepted, has played a major role in the popularization and rapid development of league football (for example, SKY Television and the English Premier League) in many counties. The SKY Television agreement with the Premier League, when it was first signed was worth £191,000,000 pounds over five seasons. The next contract rose to £670,000,000 pounds over four seasons. The Premier League last £1,024 Billion pound deal with B SKY B runs over the course of three seasons from August 2004. All this, for a League, that only began in 1992.
Television is the means by which most Gambians see and experience football. For this reason, SPICE and the proposed Zonal, Regional and National football League Company’s main objective is to ensure that broadcast of the proposed Leagues is available to the whole of The Gambia. GRTS, the only television station in the country presently will be our partner in this endeavor. However, the possibility of cable sports TV, where the customer purchases a decoder and pays a monthly fee for a card will be examined,
2.Central government and local authorities
According to the National Sports Policy, 1999 t0 2008,"The provision of the enhanced sporting facilities should encourage and broaden the availability of and access to these facilities by communities and thereby encourage the participation in physical fitness and sports by a wide cross section of people of all ages and abilities". It was mentioned that the overall objectives of the Sports policy would depend mainly on the capacity of the sporting associations in partnership with public and private sector entities.
Despite mentioning and recognizing the Central Government on sports as mainly facilitators, the Action Plan targeted the Central Government as the main actor for the implementation of the Policy. The attitude of most Central Government official and members of sporting association in The Gambia (including the Normalizing Committee members), past and present, despite saying that government cannot do everything depends and think that Central Government should do everything in sports.
They think that it is the responsibility of Central Government to build stadiums all over the Regions, organize and administer sports all over the country, provide sporting facilities in all sports fields, pay all the expenditure of national sports clubs and individuals, etc. This is not the way things happen even in the most developed countries. Sports development, especially football/soccer was/is mainly developed by community participation, local government authorities, private business ownership/sponsorship, etc, not Central Government.
The word is partnership/participation not interference/control of sports from FIFA and CAF in football.The social, economical and cultural benefit of the development of the above mentioned clubs within their respective areas should not be underrated. Besides creating nationwide professional football players, managers, trainers etc, the game will:
a. Reduce rural to urban migration of the youths of the country.
b. Build mini stadiums all over the country; hence create work for local construction industries and business.
c. Reduce tribalism and increase positive zonal, divisional and regional unity.
d. Reduce political tension.
e. Develop transport, clothing and food industries all over the country.
f. Thousand of peoples all over the country will be employed directly or indirectly.
g. Improve the Health and welfare of Gambians of all ages and sex.
Not all the benefits can be mentioned here. But in order to achieve our goals and objectives in national football, we need to create new tournaments and new leagues that are national in character and sustainable in nature.
The proposed new Regional Leagues will not only develop the game, form the basis for the Gambian Super/Premier League, but will also:
1) Give a lot of youths, from all over the country, a chance to participate in the game, earn money and become local football stars.
2) Increase community participation and popularity in the game.
3) Encourage the development of mini-stadiums, while improving the existing football fields by the private sector and local governments.
4) Encourage the private sector to invest in local football clubs and other sporting infrastructures and facilities.
5) Reduce the tension in the football family between those within the GBA and the rest of the Regions in this country.
6) The introduction of the Premier League in England not only made the English league the best and richest in the world but also helped the British economy as a whole. The introduction of the New Gambia Football Federation (GFF) Zonal, Regional and National football League should have the same effect, God Willing.
In a recent speak at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, KM, and during a reconciliation meeting between the GFA Normalizing Committee and the Regional Organizing Committee (ROC), on Tuesday, 21st August, 2012, Mr. Alieu Jammeh, the Minister of Youth and Sports said, “there is a bright future for football in this country because of the issues we are looking at to restructure the game. We want to strengthen the academies, go to the grassroots and see a real football there because we believe that is where you tap talents; as well we also want to restructure the league to be a more professional league.
He also said, “You see people putting on shirts of other clubs bearing the names of players of other countries. We want a situation in The Gambia where if you mention a club people can be attached to that club so that when that club is playing that category of people will go and watch them”. It is very difficult and unnatural to form a professional league when the football clubs participating in it are not professional clubs. Therefore, as mentioned above successful national football leagues must fulfill the above mentioned five basic conditions to succeed.
I think this is a good time to discuss the difference between professionalism and amateurism in relationship to football. Professionalism means doing things on a formal basis and for monetary return/reward. It means the league clubs and their national football association must have a constitution and is registered with the government (e.g. National Sports Council), their players must all register with the club and national football association, players are paid, the national association and clubs must have a registered office and ‘home ground’ football field.
These clubs normally have registered fans clubs and are sponsored. The league they participate in is also registered as a business and sponsored with a TV Rights agreement between the league and the TV owners. The GFA fall short of representing most of the football clubs in The Gambia and most of the clubs participating in the GFA league are not registered as a business, do not have their own football field where they can play home matches, do not have their own office, do not have a registered fans club and, mostly are not sponsored and the League has yet to enter into a deal with a TV station.
Amateurism means doing things on an informal basis and usually for non-monetary gain and/or on a voluntary basis. It is normally not registered anywhere even as a charitable organization. It is almost the complete opposite of professionalism. As you can see The GFA is yet to legalize professionalism, therefore, in terms of legalized professionalism The Gambia is (2012-1885) 127 years behind England.
Unfortunately, our Normalizing Committee does not seem to be committed to legalizing professionalism and to the formation of a nationwide Super Football League; otherwise, they would have done what Aston Villa director William McGregor did and organize a meeting of representatives of Gambian football clubs (GFA League, Regional and Nawettan clubs) before presenting any proposed GFA Constitution.
3. Promoters
Most sports promoters, like SPICE,believe that, government departments, private companies, etc, should not be named after professional football clubs (for example, Gamtel FC, Ports Authority FC, Interior FC, Quantum Associate FC, LG FC, etc).They may owned a football club, enter into long term deals with clubs, sponsor tournaments, leagues, etc, but they should never name a professional football club after themselves.
The Super Nawettan Tournament has proven to be the most popular domestic football tournament in the Gambia, yet, the events development is hampered by the fact that;
a) Only 10 football clubs (of which 95% of the clubs participating are from the Greater Banjul Area) are participating.
b) It is a tournament not a league.
c) It has not been given its proper importance by the GFA.
d) The event is not well advertised to increase spectators and sponsorship.
e) Security, especially, at local grounds is normally very poor.
f) GFA League club players are allowed to participate in the event.
From a promoters point of view football today is recognized as one of the largest industry in the world. The game is highly developed in countries where:
a. The teams are located and named after medium or large population centers
b. The teams and their football associations take up a national characteristic.
c. The teams each have their own football field, stadium or share one.
d. The teams have a large support base (fan club), hence; attract the necessary sponsorship and media promotion.
e. The National League matches are televised live.
None of the Gambian football clubs or GFA League has any of the above-mentioned criteria (except for Brikama United which has only two of the above mentioned criteria’s) and if any one of the five above mentioned criteria is missing success will be difficult to achieve.
4. Fan Clubs and Spectators
Poor attendance at GFA league matches is mainly due to:
a. Most of the GFA league football clubs are not community-based clubs, hence, have no support base (fan club) or attract long term sponsorship. Brikama United FC is the only exception to this situation.
b. 99% of the GFA league clubs do not have their own football field; hence, they are playing on borrowed field. There is no home and away match.
c. Lack of infrastructure and facilities, such as pavilions, changing rooms, toilets, fence, etc in most football fields in The Gambia.
A large fan club and ownership of a football stadium by a football club is a key ingredient for the development of any football club, and for the league of any country. As mention in our articles football is basically a community based sport. Community participation is essential for the club to perform well and to be successful financially and socially. Without the fan clubs, players will not perform to expectation, stadiums will not be filled to capacity, sponsors and promoters will not be interested.
Clubs like Manchester United FC, Liverpool FC, Barcelona FC, Chelsea FC, Real Madrid FC, etc, have clearly demonstrated this. Change the names of these clubs to the owner of these clubs and you will get a negative effect. This negative effect is what is presently happening with our existing GFA League and League clubs. The lacks of fan clubs for most of the existing GFA League clubs reduce the pressure to build stadiums and develop existing football fields. Without the fan clubs, sponsors and promoters are not interested enough to invest money into clubs, sport centers and football players.
Proposed ‘FIFA’ Constitution and League Structures
This present proposed FIFA Constitution is worlds apart from the previous GFA Normalizing Committee Constitution which proves that some members of the Normalizing Committee do not really support the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, hence, the confusion. The constitution that is presented on paper and the one presented on radios and on the newspapers are completely different.
The officially presented “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, speaks of ‘Constitution of the GFA’, 12 First Division National League clubs, 10 Second National League clubs, while the spokesperson of the GFA Normalizing Committee speaks of the proposed Gambia Football Federation (GFF), increasing the existing GFF League to 16 clubs, etc.
Other crucial questions that need to be answered by the GFA Normalizing Committee are:
1. If and when is the next AGM of the GFA going to be held and where?
2. If it is going to be held, is the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012, going to be only discussed or adopted for the coming GFA/GFF Congress using the old GFA Constitution?
3. If not when are we going to finalize/reject or adopt the “FIFA inspired” Constitution, 2012
4. The Regional League and clubs, God Willing, should reach international standards of National League Football within 2 to 3 years. How can a professional Regional League club participate in an armature league (which the present GFA League clearly is going by international standards of National League Football)?
The football stakeholders should seriously consider having a Super/Premier League of 16 clubs included in the constitution. The Super/Premier League of 16 clubs which can run alongside the existing GFA League, will solve many of Gambian present structural, management, administrational and financial problems, as well as, encourage investment by the private sector in sports infrastructure and facilities. Most of the future community based clubs already have their own football fields and have the potential for attracting large fan clubs. Sponsorship and media interest for these clubs is only a matter of time and organization.
Proposed New League Strategy
According to Wikipedia, “The Football League, established in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor, was the first professional football league in the world. Since its founding, however, many other leagues have been founded in England. Over the years there has been an increasing effort to link all these leagues together in a Pyramidal structure allowing promotion and relegation between different levels.
The primary motivation for this drive is to maintain the possibility that any club in England may dream of one day rising to the very top, no matter what status they currently hold. In a study made by FIFA in 2006 there are around 40,000 clubs registered with the FA, which is 11,000 more than any other country, the closest being the Brazilian Football Confederation who has 29,000 registered clubs. Even without taking relative population into account, England has more football clubs than any other country in the world.”
The primary motivation of the old and middle guards in Gambia football was to protect existing GFA League clubs residing within the Greater Banjul Area, prevent clubs from the Regional Leagues from entering the GFA League Divisions and to help GFA League clubs sell players to international clubs. Even today there is effort to prevent the GFA League, the Regional League and the Nawettan League from linking together ‘in a Pyramidal structure.’
So the drive ‘to maintain the possibility that any club in The Gambia may dream of one day rising to the very top, no matter what status they currently hold’ does not exist in The Gambia presently. For the League to have a Pyramidal structure the existing GFA League must be changed. Below I have presented three alternatives of a National League Structures for consideration:
Premier/Super League
The Premier/Super League is to be Gambian Football's top clubs. All the clubs have their own football field or have access to one as their home ground, all matches are played home and away, all the clubs are registered as a business, etc. A links with the Regional Football League and the existing GFA 1st and 2nd Division will be establish, and each season the bottom three clubs are relegated from the Premier/Super League and replaced by two from the proposed Regional League and one from the GFA 1st Division or 2nd Division.
The Premier/Super League is contested between 16 clubs each season. Each club in the Premier/Super League in any given season owns one tenth of a share in the league itself, meaning that they are all supposedly equal owners with equal rights and responsibilities.”
Regional League
The Regional League will be ranked second in the hierarchy of Gambian football because the Regional will become the first professional league in The Gambia and the clubs participating in it the first professional clubs. The Regional League has 12 member clubs (Banjul/KM, WCR, NBR, URR, LRR, CRR) with each of the six Municipality/region providing two clubs each to play in the Regional League Championship.
The conditions or criteria required to qualify for participation in the Regional League will make it difficult for many clubs within the existing GFA League to participate. A regional clubs must be professional, have their own football field, named after a community, be able to play home and away matches, belong to a professional league, etc, etc.
The GFA Football League
“Although the oldest league in The Gambia, The GFA Football League should rank third in the hierarchy of Gambian football after the coming into effect of the proposed FIFA influenced football constitution.