By Ibraheem Daramy
FERENSOLA
When the government of Sierra Leone is notified of any support from those who control the purse strings of slave money, Freetown will be over the roof as an endorsement of bailing its people out of poverty – you can easily wave them off as naive if you are not in their shoe. However, the opposition would be busy throwing out endless press releases presenting a contrary view – nothing they could do anyway, after all it’s not their money. But when the government doesn’t make the cut by the estimation of some bureaucrats in Washington, London, Brussels, etc., the latter would be rejoicing as a boost to form the next government.
About fifteen (15) years today, a group of football enthusiasts acting on the orders of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), approached Moses Sesay, then Mayor of Makeni. He was told about the intention of the world’s governing body of football, Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), to do the first artificial turf in the country. Whosoever had identified Makeni to be the first stop, I could neither ask nor even bothered to know – it was already water under the bridge. The delegation that came to meet the Mayor had a simple message – the slave mentality put up or you send a once in a lifetime opportunity parking. He was so boxed it’s obvious he was going to throw in the towel all day long. Fast forward, the council had to cede the running and management of Wusum Field to the Bombali District Football Association (BDFA), by the extension, the SLFA.
The Makeni intervention was the opening of a floodgate of such across the country. Like Wusum stadium in Makeni, any playing field that benefits from this project will turn to a singular sporting venue. Looking at the turf today at Wusum stadium, its status has brought bare all we were told during its installation. Like our colonial masters who left us with running water, good roads, electricity, etc, the next generation is going to be left itching for answers.
The other day a senior brother told me he was happy watching live streams of our national football league. He couldn’t help but laughed as much as he could when I said if only the streamers share my opinion, they’ll rather direct the use of their megabytes into something else. Because, according to me, they were just showcasing our poverty. I wonder how live images from Attouga, Parade, Approved School Grounds, etc, would look like on the screens. The other day there was a video all over the place about a top flight league match to be played at the Lungi field, the visiting team had to spend the entire time they had for warm up using shovels to scoop water from the multiple potholes in a field only fit to graze cattle. It does not take a genius to know what will become of unplayable fields by simply planting grass, given our predicable rainfall. This is the country where high rise apartments will grow grass on their roof tops. A seed blown by the wind will perch and wait for the first rain drops – the dust that accompanied the seed will act as soil. Instead of opening ourselves up as unconditional alms collectors, we can with a straight face tell our benefactors to take their artificial turfs somewhere else.
We are playing our home matches away from home because we do not have a playing facility that meets the standard. I know the only one close to that, the Bo Arena is not in contention here, has been closed to the public with very little information on progress as well as what to expect. The South Americans, Argentina and Brazil specifically, have been able to maintain a sustained transfer of quality footballers with mouthwatering transfer fees over the years mainly because of the type of investment into the development of the game. They have the stadiums in terms of quality and crowds to match their more illustrious European counterparts. For them, it’s not doom and gloom if one does not make it to Europe – their leagues have got enough to offer.
Whether he’s interested or not, I haven’t heard him say anything yet, social media has been dominated by threads promoting Babadi Kamara as the next president of the SLFA. The incumbent, Thomas Daddy Brima, someone I’ve never met, like his imaginary opponent, but I’ll root for the Bo Rangers Chairman all day long. I wonder how my darling Wusum Stars would have fared in the preceding league season without his philanthropy. Don’t mind those privileged elite that came from Bombali, I can bet they didn’t do anything. Infact it was under their watch that the team got relegated to the second tier.
