By Brima Bah
We will always have people to admire, respect and appreciate for what they are able to do in their various endeavours of life to promote the general good, sometimes at the expense of their livelihood, and family, and indeed against very big odds. For their bravery, selflessness, and resilience, others will have the chance to live and be.
A lot is written about Sierra Leonean heroes like Bai Bureh, Sengbe Pieh, Lamina Sankoh, ITA Wallace Johnson, Madam Koblo Gulama, Sir Milton Margai and many others. The one thing all these heroes have in common is that they are all long dead. When I was a boy, I had thought that a hero meant a great person who was long dead. Now that am a man, I know for sure that in Sierra Leone, the living, however great they may be, however high they may fly the green, white, and blue tricolour flag of our country, they would still be one of the many normal Sierra Leoneans who could have anything thrown at them. Or perhaps because of their trouble they could be tested – or should I say tempted – with something worse than the ordinary man would face.
Anyway, wasn’t Christ himself tempted by the devil, and rejected by his own very people? A prophet has no honour in his home town, the saying comes so easily. But in Sierra Leone, it is far more than a saying. It is the practice. Heroes we can find from all walks of life, but I see such a neglect and disrespect for our sporting heroes that I am confused about the paradox of Sierra Leoneans, including my very self, being so passionate about sports, yet we have no acclaimed torchbearers in this field!
England has the very living, young and energetic David Beckham; Brazil has the equally living Pele; Ghana Abedi; Phillipine Manny Pacquiao, India Sachin Tindoeka, USA Micheal Jordan, Liberia George Weah, Guinea Titi Camara, Sierra Leone, who? Not that we do not have them. We just don’t acknowledge, respect, and appreciate them.
It was sometime in early 2012, when I had the honour of being a co-panellist with the greats – Kama Dumbuya and Umaru Deen Sesay – on an SLBC Radio Sports Zone programme. That was one of the most enlightening experiences in my life. It was a one-hour programme but one that for me would remain a lifelong insight into the woes of our sporting heroes. I sat there, mostly listening to these greats reminisce about their good old times, days I was not ripe enough to witness.
But I could understand and identify with them. In their days, they played, not for the good of the game, today’s Sierra Leone football mantra, but for the love of the game. Football was not only alive, it was electric. The fans came out in droves. You had to be at the stadium hours before kickoff, if you wanted to watch a match. East End Lions/Mighty Blackpool, Ports Authority/Republican, Freetown United/Regent Olympics, and other fixtures were the talks of the town. It was not just the youth the elders were also in the thick of it all. There was seriousness, passion and sincerity on the part of those who administered the game. They wanted to see games played, not just preside over the FIFA subsidies which are these days received, used, or is it not misused or misappropriated, converted to personal income of some officials without ever giving accounts!
The players then did not receive fat pay, but they were happy to play because they were admired, adored and respected. They lived as average citizens who were dedicated to their trade which was rolling the ball, scoring the goals, or defending/keeping the goal. They played the game then, representing Sierra Leonean clubs in African Competitions. Teams like Tonnerre de Yaonde, Hearts of Oak, Esperance, etc, they played against.
In our days, no! It does not matter if the game does not play. What matters is that FIFA recognizes SLFA and the fat subsidy is dropping. No, it does not matter who runs the game or how the game is being strangled. The majority of the people who have been running around pretending to administer the game never kicked a ball. No, they are not the heroes; they are opportunists who discovered loopholes they can greedily exploit with impunity, pushing away the true heroes from the game. The greats – Dumbuya and Sesay – did not only reflect on their heyday, they also lamented on the mistreatment they endured from the strangers who had hijacked the game. The heroes knew about the game, and they knew the game had been strangled, abandoned and left to die, while the so-called technocrats were fighting over who should succeed the then self-exiled FA President.
The retired heroes during this time were able to convince the FIFA representatives assessing Sierra Leone’s Football mismanagement to force SLFA to give them a seat as stakeholders of the game. The game was diagnosed by FIFA to be abnormal, and the heroes got their seat. The heroes had everything figured out: the deception and day light robbery of the game they played and loved and still do love. O yes! Well, they had to be treated; give them an inch they take a yard! The heroes were now further pushed off the corridors of management and dismissed as disgruntled troublemakers.
There can be nobody in the world to teach Sierra Leonean players how to score goals better than the Goal King himself, Kama Dumbuya. In terms of tactics, show me one person better than Musa Kallon. But they are pushed far away from the technical teams of the various categories of the national team. In fact, these heroes are forced to buy tickets and crowd with the masses in the open stands to watch Leone Stars play. I saw former Leone Stars players like captain Thustao and Chericoco buy tickets to watch the last Leone Stars/Tunisia match here at the National Stadium! In other countries their heroes have reserved booths in the Presidential Stands. The retired heroes might have had a seat in the FA Congress, but certainly not a say, not to talk about their way. The late Ishmail Dyfan, Brima Atouga, Brima George and many other unsung heroes, would not be appeased by this deflection of the true state of the retired heroes.
But wait a minute, Brima Masola! He is a hero, and he is now the first Vice President of the Sierra Leone Football Association. That’s quite a step for the heroes. Unfortunately, the majority of the football stakeholders disagree with the recent selection of Masola’s boss, Mrs. Isha Johansen and co. Even though he is carrying a big title recognized by the Ministry of Sports and FIFA, he is yet to be embraced by the fans who once cheered him up when he played on the pitch of play. Some sports conspiracy theorists have argued that Masola was used to enhance Madam Johansen’s apparent lack of sufficient experience in the game. This view is clearly questionable. What if he genuinely believed that Madam Johansen is the best person to run the game at this time, in spite of the bickering? Naturally, he would have supported the candidate whom he believed was better than himself, in spite of his experience in the game and her relative lack of it.
Meanwhile, the current players of the game are being frustrated, already. When the game comes out of theatre where it is battling for its life, the boys will return to play. But for now we are told to wait. We have been waiting for seventeen years for Leone Stars to return to the African Cup of Nations. We can wait some more for the game to return. What about the players? I hear grumblings that they will lose pay, but I am not sure about how much they make anyway. Some players I know had long read the writing on the wall. They have managed to combine football with other trades/professions. A good number are in tertiary institutions pursuing various courses. Some are professional Accountants, Managers, highly technical workers, and we even have a Barrister, Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, playing in the SL Premier League, you know. But these are a few. The majority are entirely dependent on this game they love so much.
But even the most accomplished Sierra Leonean sportsman of all time, the iconic Mohamed Kallon, could be frustrated away from the game which is his life. For him, he would be thankful that he has a lot of options.
For the young players, in the very recent future, they will need far more than football skills to live respectably in this our dear country. They would not be blind to the many veterans moving from ghetto to ghetto or around the streets scavenging to survive. Young players must endeavour to empower themselves, off the pitch, preferably away from football. They would later come back to the game they love, if they so choose.
Brima Bah is a Sports Commentator and Analyst
