By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The newly constructed Southern Arena stadium will be officially opened to the public on Sunday 21 st May 2023 to host both local and International matches.
The 6,000 (six thousand) capacity stadium constructed by the Chairman of Bo Rangers, Babadi Kamara is said to be the first provincial stadium in the country with modern facilities.
Before its official opening ceremony, the Arena’s management in partnership with the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has trained 100 (one hundred) young men and women as professional stewards to protect players, officials, and fans during football matches.
The Head of Safety and Security Department of SLFA, Mohamed Bowen Freeman who has been certified by the Confederation of African Football
(CAF) is the lead trainer. He pointed to the importance of the training which he said is a ten-day course of both theory and practical teaching to prepare professional stewards that will be managing the safety and security of football matches at the Arena.
He added that the training is in line with CAF standards and will help greatly in preventing overcrowding and reducing the likelihood of disorder during football matches.
Chairman Babadi was quoted in a press statement to have said that his aim is to see that everything about the stadium matches international standards and that Safety and security is a key components of match management. He said there is a high need for professionally trained stewards to be present at every match venue which does not exempt the Southern Arena.
Also, a gala competition has been set up to mark the start of football competitions in the stadium. Four teams such as the Bai Bureh Warriors,
Kamboi Eagles, East End Lions, and Wusum Stars have been selected to compete with Bo Rangers, the host of the competition.
According to the Arena’s management, the four teams were selected to represent the Western, North-West, North, and Southern regions of the Country.
On Friday 19 th of May 2023, Bai Bureh Warriors will engage Kamboi Eagles whilst East End Lions will take on Wusum Stars at the Bo Kenema Highway stadium. The winner between Warriors and Eagles will entertain the winner between Lions and Wusum on Saturday 20th May 2023 at the same stadium.
On Sunday, 21 st May 2023 whoever wins the final on Saturday will play against Bo Rangers at the Southern Arena in the official opening ceremony.
Sierra Leone Football Association’s (SLFA) proposal to host the Sierra Leone Versus Nigeria Match at the Southern Arena in Bo was recently rejected by the Confederation of African Football Federation (CAF) for lack of standard (4 Star) Hotels in the country’s second city.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (19/05/23)
