The whole game of football in Sierra Leone was plunged into an embarrassing abyss after two matches played in Kenema and Kono last weekend ended with unbelievable results. In their bid to qualify for a place in the Super Ten play-off for promotion to the Sierra Leone Premier League, Kahunla Rangers defeated Lumbebu United 95-0 in Kenema whilst in Kono Gulf FC beat Koquima-Lebanon 91-1. The results which made it to world news headlines, were annulled and all four Division One clubs are now being investigated. Politico’s Umaru Fofana sought the views of the Sierra Leone Football Association President Thomas Daddy Brima on the whole sordid affair.
Politico: What is your reaction to the results which your FA has denounced?
Daddy Brima: As football administrators we are very sad that a situation like that could occur in Sierra Leone. But we are looking into those who ignited this mediocrity and of course we will get to the bottom of it.
Politico: How soon do you intend to get to the bottom of it?
Daddy Brima: We have summoned the regional chairman to give us a report as a procedure. But what I really think is for a situation like that there is no excuse. Some people have to pay definitely for what happened.
The teams should be responsible for the officiating crew and we are looking into actually setting an example so a reoccurrence will never happen in Sierra Leone football.
Politico: Are you suggesting that the matches were fixed?
Daddy Brima: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. Nobody is going to score 40 goals in 40 or 45 minutes. That tells you something is terribly wrong somewhere – that is on one hand. Or we assume on the other hand that a team is playing qualifiers to play the Super Ten which certainly will qualify them to the Premiere League – and if you allow 40 goals or 45 goals in 40 minutes, that tells me you are not supposed to be a team at all. The thing that is so annoying about this is that it happened in Kenema, it happened in Kono. Which means some discussions around what was happening might have taken place. And as a football federation we want to make sure we set the brightest example that this will never happen in Sierra Leone football.
Politico: Will that include banning the players from ever playing football if they are found guilty?
Daddy Brima: My answer is yes, but we are actually looking at officials responsible for igniting what the players did because, considering what we know in Sierra Leone, the level of exposure of these boys is something we can work on. Yes we blame them but there are people who are responsible for what they did and I am looking at those responsible for what happened.
Politico: You mean the club owners, the officials or who?
Daddy Brima: The club owners of course, the match commissioners, the officiating team. Because the referees, just common sense tells me that a commissioner should have called the game off having realised what was happening. You hear people saying in the background “just continue scoring, nothing will happen”. No people can expect such a disgrace, thinking they will walk away free with that.
Politico: You mean the fans were chanting ‘score more goals nothing’s gonna happen’?
Daddy Brima: We are still trying to process that tape, but something keeps telling me it might have happened that a club official was saying “just keep scoring, nothing is going to happen”. No! As a matter of fact something is bound to happen because football is a respectable sport. We want to keep the integrity of the sport and we are going to do everything we can to punish those who instigated this and restore the dignity of football in Sierra Leone.
Politico: 91 Goals in almost 91 minutes, did the football reach the other end of the pitch at all?
Daddy Brima: You know realistically speaking I don’t even want to think about it because each time I think about this I get hurt too bad. This tells you about the mentality about these people or what or who poisoned the minds of the young boys whose career is actually to play football. And so we go after those who did it, because if we cannot correct this now it’s going to become a norm or a pattern. So we correct this now, ban those responsible, let them look for other sport. Because we do not do this, we do not encourage this in football.
Politico: How much of an issue is match fixing in Sierra Leonean football?
Daddy Brima: It is too much of an issue in football, period! Match-fixing is not accepted, cannot be tolerated and will not be tolerated in Sierra Leone football. And so we have to nail this right now. We stop it where it started. We are going to go above just stopping it. Maybe we conduct sessions for these young boys to know that this is unacceptable.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (08/07/22)
