By Zainab Joaque
The most infamous declaration of politics and sport was the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) 2012 elections which spilled over to 2013 as a result of petitions and counter petitions. That led to the setting-up of a Normalisation Committee (NC) by the football world governing body, FIFA, amidst claims of a lack of structure within the Football Association (FA) Secretariat.
Though the build-up to the election had to deal with socioeconomic issues like betting and racial comments, the impetus for this was an inflammation of tensions set off by the Minister of Sports who had his eyes firmly set on one candidate whom he professed was the best describing her as “a black Sierra Leonean”.
It surprised few therefore when Rodney Michael, who by far was the front runner in the race, and those candidates associated with him, were disqualified from running by the NC. This brought a whole lot of acrimony, leading to a complete breakdown of the national premier league. Things got only worse since.
In apparent retaliation, those who felt aggrieved refused to take part in the league. They boycotted all FA-organised matches. Several negotiations were held to bring the two groups together but they all ended in a deadlock. As far as the aggrieved party was concerned their grievances were not well handled and their demands not taken seriously by those who now run the show at Kingtom.
In spite of all this, or may because of it, the league continued haphazardly with several teams not honouring their fixtures, plunging the league into a complete mess. However, the FA crowned Diamond Stars and RSLAF FC as having qualified for the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions. The stage seems well prepared for more tough times in 2014 for the beleaguered FA executive, the bedevilled league and the bemoaning domestic football fans.
As a football fan I do not think the two teams crowned as Champions and Runners-Up will perform any well at the continental level. There has been no structured competition since the disruptive end to the local Premier League which they claimed to have topped.
Going back to the lead up to the SLFA elections in 2012 the Minister of Sports set the stage to promote what was clearly a racist agenda if only for his convenience. This, regardless of the fact that football frowns hugely against such and seeks to promote unity among stakeholders, players and fans alike.
While football administration got messy, the beautiful game suffered in the country. Sierra Leone took part in the two qualifying series for the World Cup and the African Nations Cup and failed to make it through largely as a result of the aforementioned. 2014 is here and the future looks bleak. The FA is yet to come out with its calendar of activity to better plan for our young boys and girls who have taken up the sport as a career.
The animosity is still there and we still need to mend fences. But until the truth is told and people speak their mind conscientiously and stop stabbing in the back those they are meant to serve, football will continue to suffer.
One question the stakeholders need to ask themselves is whether they believe in the heart of hearts that they are serving the people they claim to be working for or are pursuing some narrow self-serving enterprise. I make bold to say that the honest answer to that question is NO! Sierra Leoneans are not enjoying the glories that come with this sport, they are not getting their monies' worth and they are left with the lame excuse of “we played but the referee was biased”.
Another thing eating into our country's football is the issue of local coaches. Instead of trying to do the right thing by developing our home-based coaches and players, we rely solely on professional players and foreign-based coaches who have limited time to be together with each other to be able to produce results for the country.
Don’t get me wrong, I respect our professional players. But we need to build our home side to be able to match up with these players when they turn up for international matches. There is the felt need to reorient our players towards professionalism and discipline. It is about time we as Sierra Leoneans believed in ourselves by handling our own players and stopping the issue of foreign coaches who, more often than not, only come to disorganise the whole system.
I am sure if a quarter of the salary of a foreign coach was offered to our local coaches they would deliver the goods. We should learn by entrusting our national teams to our local coaches. This paid off when coaches Musa Kallon and Abu Sankoh led the Under-17 squad in 2003 that took part in the FIFA World Cup in Finland.
SLFA can work towards establishing soccer academies as part of a youth policy if football is to develop in this football-mad country instead of paying lip service to this otherwise laudable venture in the development of grassroots football. Otherwise Sierra Leone will continue lagging behind its sister countries. What football academies do, if anyone needs telling, is that in the near future they can raise players and teams that will be good enough to challenge for honours alongside their counterparts from other regions on the continent. That can only uplift Sierra Leone football from the quagmire in which it has been for past decades.
But all of this rests with the country's football administration which has succeeded in creating a group of people who feel they have a complete monopoly of knowledge and must therefore control our national conscience. If this is the only purpose of holding elections within the football family - to elect the same breed - then we had better not hold elections for they are farcical.
It is clear that this country is undergoing the most severe economic and social crises since the war ended. With a young population who have access to information about events around the world, our football leaders have every reason in treading the straight and narrow. It is true that in sports popular uprisings are difficult to achieve, but that does not mean they will never occur.
The truth is our football administrators have failed the game. We have never lacked in talent, we have only been left with incompetent administrators whose interest is to line in their pockets, patronise politicians, enjoy the spoils of office and make coaches the scapegoats every time things go wrong.
We have very good and talented young players, but every other year we are treated to a list of failure and crisis with players and officials trading accusations, elections manipulations, disorganised leagues, bald football pitches, hiring and firing of coaches at the drop of a hat, corruption and a general lack of planning. Little wonder they hardly attract genuine sponsors.
Where do we stand as a nation in terms of actively participating and qualifying for regional and continental competitions? When will we have a well-structured and organised domestic league for all categories? When will the stakeholders start respecting each other’s opinion on matters of public interest and not vilify those who disagree with them? Certainly not in 2014. Whither art thou, Sierra Leone football?!
(C) Politico 07/01/14
