By Saio Marrah
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has in a letter written to the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) called on the football administration to respond to series of allegations ranging from match fixing, sexual harassment to assault on footballers and officials.
A letter dated 1st March 2023 from the CAF headquarters in Caro, Egypt noted that the association, is in receipt of allegations from various sources to do with aiding and abetting manipulation of football matches and failing to conclusively investigate and address allegations of manipulation of football matches.
In relation to the football match fixing, CAF cited the SLFA National Division one play-off match between Gulf FC and Koquoima Lebanon, a match that ended 91-1.
A similar case of match fixing, the letter pointed out, was the Lumbenbu United and Kahunla Rangers FC, which finished 0-95.
CAF also informed the FA that its failure to ensure proper, transparent and professional refereeing of matches, led to teams like Freetonian SLIFA suspending their participation in the Sierra Leone Premier League on allegations of poor officiating.
SLFA was also reminded that it has failed to establish a referee committee.
The FA was also cautioned for failing to ensure safety and security during league matches as well as failing to take action against perpetrators of violence.
The continent’s football governing body mentioned the stabbing of football fans during the 2021-2022 premier league match between Ports Authority and FC Johansen.
Another instance they highlighted was the alleged assault on a female referee in November 2022 by the Head Coach of FC Kallon, Mohamed Kallon.
The letter indicated that such behaviour by Kallon led to the Sierra Leone National Referees Organization releasing a statement on the 20th January last year, putting on hold officiating of all matches that have to do with FC Kallon.
CAF also noted that the organization subsequently boycotted the match between City FC and FC Kallon scheduled to be played on 20th January 2022.
Still on the issue of assault, the letter mentioned ‘the purported assault on the head coach of FC Johansen, Abubakarr Bah by Diamond Stars FC on the 29th January 2023.’
CAF further reminded SLFA authorities that one of the key objectives of the continent’s football governing body’s is to prevent practices or procedures that may jeopardize the integrity of players, the game, or its competitions or give rise to any form of abuse of the game of football.
SLFA was also reminded that all members of CAF are obliged to respect and ensure that their own members respect at all time ‘unreservedly’ the principle of ethics and fair play enacted by CAF and FIFA- the principle of integrity and sportsmanship and the statutes, regulation, decisions and directives of CAF and FIFA.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (13/03/23)
