By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Thomas Daddy Brima has on the 6th June, 2022 clocked exactly a year in office.
In a radio talk show he highlighted some of the gains he has made before and after assuming office as president of the association.
He spoke of the in-fighting that preceded him and how his coming changed all that.
‘’So it would be ideal to bring in a new person that will bring in everybody onboard for the love of the game,’’ he said.
Upon assuming office, President Brima noted that he had succeeded in settling all disputes that had surrounded football in the country and promised there will be no recurrence. He said he was just a week old in office when he eventually qualified the national team to the African Cup of Nations.
He said the situation of football in the country has been messy and has always been a challenge, but assured that he was elected to fix it, which he has done. He noted that before assuming office, he was aware that five hundred thousand dollars (500,000 USD) was invested to run female football in the country, but noted that by the time he was elected President of SLFA, he only met two hundred and fifty thousand dollars (250,000 USD).
Football Administrator, Rodney Michael whilst commenting on the SLFA boss’s one year in office congratulated him and said since he was elected, they as football loving people are yet to hear the normal trend of confrontation around the game. He commended him that within his one year in office he was able to complete the qualification of the national team to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) .
Michael also congratulated him for completing the premiere league season for the first time since the former president took over office in 2013, though he said the former president also had challenges of funding due to the financial ban sometime within her tenure. He noted that Brima has so far made a significant improvement in the national team by introducing the team to friendly matches.
He commended him for introducing a female premier league board that he said is yet to be functional. He also commended him for restructuring the division one league though he said there is still a lot of work to be done.
He mentioned the lack of sponsorship, or courses for referees, coaches, administrators and the unavailability of buses for the national teams which he said are present problems.
He concluded by rating Brima’s performance so far at 60%.
Team Manager of East End Tiger FC, Victor Lewis noted that he would rate Brima 80% a little higher than Rodney’s rating to 80%. He said Brima revived most of the things they had been crying for most of the time.
He noted that he just witnessed a league of 18 teams played nationwide that was one hundred percent funded by the FA.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (08/06/22)
