By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Divisions have emerged among the ranks of Sierra Leone Premier League (SLPL) administrators over the proposed One Nation Football Tournament funded by the mining giant, Leone-Rock Metal.
According to Eric Batilo Fomba, head of media at the National Sports Authority, NSA, the two week tournament opens at the end of January 2023 in Makeni is part of programs under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) portfolio of Leone Rock.
He pointed out that since all the regions of the country will be participating in the tournament, the football family and the players in particular will benefit a lot from a package that includes jerseys, boots for the players, electronic substitution boards for each region as well as support for referees. He said: “funds are also going to be allocated to the male and female Premiere League Boards, the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) and NSA.
The NSA media man went on to say that owing to the fact that the main Sierra Leone Premier was still in progress, the sponsors involved NSA, SLFA, and the Ministry of Sports so that the One Nation tournament will not affect the SLPL.
According to the NSA media specialist, the Sierra Leone Premiere League Board (SLPLB) has opted to put the national league on hold on the understanding that the SLPL would only resume when all the current playing venues have perimeter fences and “in fact the One Nation tournament would not affect the Sierra Leone Premier League since the premiere league matches are normally played at weekends.
Fomba said the organizers have “set up structures at regional and district level where funds allocated for the competition will be disbursed using banks to ensure transparency and accountability,” he said.
Meanwhile some SLPL club owners are divided over staging such competition. While some club owners accept the proposal, other have rejected it saying the on-going season would be disrupted and that the money provided by Leone Rock could have been used to either run the FA Cup or additionally fund the current national league. Some managers have threatened not to cooperate with the organizers of the Leone Rock sponsored tournament.
Documents seen by Politico indicate that participating regions would receive the sum of NLe 30,000 (thirty thousand New Leones) to facilitate the movement of the teams and officials with the winner getting NLe 100,000 (one hundred thousand New Leones) and NLe 75, 000 (seventy five thousand New Leones) for the runners-up.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (20/01/23)
