Hi Father Mose:

It is painful to see, even from my perspective, the lack of interest shown by
the public towards the game back home these days.  A recent article (maybe by
Lamin Cham) at AllAfrica.Com claims crowds of less than a sparsely and
pathetic 50 have been showing up of late to league matches.  This shocking
revelation, which BTW no Gambian paper has explored or discussed in detail

Nawetan's and school probably competitions at a regional level still generate
interest from locals.  But inasmuch as they generate excitement for the
locals, fact remains that these are nothing but very amateurish and haphazard
tourneys which in the absence of proper management and promotion, will not
contribute to too much towards the progress of the game. Every successful
footballing nature has good youth program, and perhaps the fact that unlike
Senegal, Gambia has not used the popular rainy season tourney and high school
football as a springboard from which to advance grassroots level football has
hurt the progress of the game there.

The great Joseph Gough contributed greatly to African football by nurturing
and encouraging so many young and upcoming stars.  Even Joe Sambou who
destroyed us (SAHS) at Lamin field one fateful afternoon in 1983(?) ended up
playing for the legendary school principal.  Many other great athletes in
various sports matured under Gough's tutelage.  The success of his strategy
clearly shows the clear dividends of promoting and showcasing the game
PROPERLY game at a grassroots level.  It is the sort of strategy our sports
body should emulate on a wider level. The new football academy to be created
from a $400,000 grant from FIFA is a good start but this has to be built upon
because while the center will be a great undertaking, the infrastructure
itself will not make the whole concept work.  The sports ministry owes it to
the Gambian public to disclose how they intend to make this place work.
Similar disclosures for other sports development initiatives should be made.
But another problem is the Gambian public accepts too much and never
questions.  Otherwise, this one will quickly fall into disrepair.


The lack of interest also definitely has something to do with the declining
fortunes of Gambian football.  We all remember the Box Bar days when classic
match-ups between Starlight and Wallidan would draw many thousands.  We had
players like Charlie Boy, Star Jallow, Lamin Owens, Bai Malleh Wadda, the
great Louse, Essa Fye, who once scored direct from a corner kick in a matchup
between the two footballing giants at the time, and many, many other great
stars.  In fact, is arguably the best Gambian side ever was assembled in
Freetown during the Zone II tourney of 1986.  The interest of the public
fueled the game greatly and this meant that great players were uncovered
during this period.  Interest in the game has to be rekindled at league level.

Biri aside, he failure of any of the above players to make any money or gain
any success of football also highlights the way our sports and footballing
authorizes have failed.  Does anyone believe the great Lamin 'Lo Def Bahna'
Owens would not have succeeded in the highest echelons of football had he
been given a chance or been guided properly!  If anything, he should have
been paid heftily for the services of his country and this way, he would have
been a hero worthy of emulation by the younger upcoming stars. Since no
recent Gambian player Jatto Ceesay and a spattling of bench warmers in
Belgium and Croatia, has never made it in football, there are no players to
set the standard for future footballers.  Also, with all due respect to Jatto
Ceesay, Lo def Bahna was a different type of player.  So was the great Louse
or Charlie Joiner.  And who can forget Saul Samba (RIP)!

Senegal on the other hand has been exporting players since the 70s to the
point now where every other player in the French league is surnamed either
Ceesay or Njie.  These first generation Frenchmen, some of them products of
the first wave of local stars to play abroad, will now be waving the African
flag against France in the WC opener at the end of next month.

The common complaint of sports authorities is a lack of money.  But more
investment should be solicited from businesses back home.  More people should
try to emulate the efforts of folks like my good buddy Willie Abrahams to
promote Gambian football.  After all, if the local business is booming like
the likes of Gassa make it out to be, then companies , etc., should have no
problems shelling out reasonable money on Sports teams.  The relationship
between the media (TV & Radio), and sports teams should also be configured to
allow everyone to benefit a bit; ad revenues for media, money and exposure
for the game, and exposure and more business for the investors in the game.
The govt. should also contribute to the game and if 1/100th of the money
being looted from our coffers was contributed to sports, we would start to
see some results.

Father Mose, while it sounds trivial, the job ahead of Gambian sports
authorities is not for mental midgets.  It is not the job or area of
expertise of an ex-army first class and mediocre football player.  Yet the
plan to move our sports forward rests firmly on the shoulders of this
incompetent bunch.

-Yus

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