By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has said it will not challenge FIFA’s decision to sanction Leone Stars from playing in front of its home fans in their next home game. The Head of Media and Marketing at the FA, Ibrahim Kamara told Politico that they will not appeal the decision considering the risks involved in doing so.
“We are not going to appeal because appealing will actually have some dangers around it. Because if we appeal and lose the appeal, we will face much more punishment that is tough than what we are facing now. So, in other words we must be very sure that we will not lose the appeal. Because appealing means you are challenging the decision” Kamara said.
He added: “We are going to face the punishment. The Sierra Leone Football Association will pay the fine and we will have to play our next game behind closed doors.”
On Wednesday, football’s world governing body, FIFA announced the decision to sanction Sierra Leone from playing in front of its home fans in the country. This decision came following an investigation on fan trouble during 2022 World Cup qualifying game against Liberia in Freetown on September 8, this year.
A statement from FIFA reads: “Notably, as a result of a number of incidents (including the invasion of the field of play, the throwing of objects and a lack of order or discipline observed in and around the stadium) that occurred in connection with the match between Sierra Leone and Liberia on 8 September 2019, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has ordered the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) to play one match without spectators. This sanction is to be served when the representative team of Sierra Leone play their next official match.
It added, “Moreover, the SLFA has been sanctioned with a fine of CHF 50,000”
Sierra Leone will play Lesotho in Freetown on the first week of November in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. This latest decision from FIFA means, Leone Stars will be playing in an empty Siaka Steven Stadium in November.
Following the end of the Sierra Leone-Liberia game, the SLFA explained to the press in Sierra Leone about the bad experiences they faced when they visited Liberia for the first leg of the tie.
However, Sierra Leone stopped short of filing in a complaint with FIFA.
The disciplinary investigations in the 2022 World Cup qualifying games saw FIFA act against 7 other countries, but Sierra Leone received the most severe punishment among them all. Some of the other countries that had to be fined and warned were Hong Kong, The Gambia, Indonesia and Qatar.
Fan violence is not new in Sierra Leone and other African countries. Across domestic leagues on the continent, there are sporadic cases of hooliganism in football grounds. Kamara said to prevent such from happening in future international matches in Sierra Leone, the FA will embark on a sensitization campaign using the media.
He said: “We are going to embark on a sensitization campaign which will even start today (Thursday). It will be based on educating the general public especially football loving fans with regards their comportment during international matches and reactions that is expected of them in line with FIFA and CAF codes,”
© 2019 Politico Online
