By Isaac Massaquoi
Who’s with me? Lars Olof Mattson was never in charge of the national football team, Leone Stars despite his official designation as coach.
I have just been reading his letter of resignation and I can only describe it as interesting. To me it confirms some of the worst fears of Sierra Leoneans like me who love the game and truly believe that there are dark forces around Sierra Leone football who have weaved unbelievable spider webs around football administration so that they hold positions of trust in the game and so make a lot of money which eventually flows from such powerful positions. I will return to this issue later.
I must put this on record: The process by which minister Paul Kamara appointed Mattson as “coach” of Leone Start left much to be desired. Mattson may have been coach for the Under-20 side in Sweden but on the Leone Stars job he was completely out of his depth.
Sitting in the stands and watching him perform from that distance on at least three occasions, I can also say that organisation was poor, discipline dreadfully lacking and his tactical decision-making regarding formation, fielding players in different positions and switching them at crucial times in matches was totally flawed.
Mattson has left Leone Stars in a very difficult situation. Leone Stars need to win the next three matches to stand any chance of making it to Brazil next year.
We are back to where we started out when Paul Kamara took office as Sport Minister. I have a lot of respect for Kamara from his days as editor of FOR DI PEOPLE Newspaper. In some ways he inspired people like us to consider journalism as a career path.
Apart from journalism, Kamara is also very passionate about football and has tried his hand at football administration with Wellington People and managing Leone Stars. It was his “fight” to “clean” up football administration in Sierra Leone that landed him in court in a case brought against him by the SLFA president at the time, Justice Tolla Thompson. I still have some of my notes from that trial.
It is against this background that I am compelled to understand why Kamara, as Minister of Sport is pushing so hard to bring his ministerial authority to bear directly on the running of the game. In the course of doing this, Kamara has stepped on many important toes and his apparent belief in his messianic mission to solve all the problems of football administration in Sierra Leone has led to him to saying and doing things that have put him in conflict with established institutions and modern approaches to politics.
As soon as he became minister, he took on the SLFA which was so weak and divided that the task of holding back this powerful ministerial push to hurriedly revolutionise the FA was left in the hands of two secretariat staff. The so-called stakeholders and what was left of the elected SLFA officials were completely missing in action. “Cooperating” with the minister was the only way out in saving the FA from becoming irrelevant in the poisoned atmosphere created by a very bloody media war between the minister and the two secretariat staff of the FA.
Mattson has resigned and the team is in disarray. Disgruntled players are quietly briefing journalists about serious concerns over player selection, discipline, tactics and marketing.
This is what Mattson says finally drove him from the job: "All the problems we had before our latest game against Tunisia helped me to make up my mind. No preparations with friendly games, no contract with the FA. All the changes in the squad, weeks ahead of the Tunisia clash, made it an easy decision. No National Coach in the world would accept to be treated like this. Nobody communicated with me - so I do feel you understand my choice to withdraw from all missions with the Sierra Leone national team".
Mattsson said “he had been very close to resigning several times but had stayed on for the sake of the players” who he says “are great to deal with”. He also told a website in his home country that “the list of players he sent to the Sports ministry and the SLFA for the Tunisia game was diluted”, claiming the names of some of the players he wanted had been deleted, and a player he had not invited had been brought in and referred to “a player who was in Tunis for the match, but had a passport which had expired in February”. He claimed that he “only learned about that an hour and a half before the game”.
Mattson continued "I can write as many books as I wish about my experience as coach of Sierra Leone. What a pain it has been and I cannot hold on anymore. It is so terribly strenuous".
Here’s what I think: Mattson has clearly outlined the problems plaguing the national team. But I should let him know that the problems were there even before he took over. He complains about having “no contract” from the SLFA. How funny! Mattson knows he was appointed by the ministry amidst loud protestations from the SLFA, how can he now expect to get a contract from the same SLFA. By the way, on the basis of what document was he paid US$ 10,000 per match?
When the BBC asked Mattson about the objections of the SLFA to his irregular appointment, he could only hide under the protection of the minister. How come he now expects the SLFA to offer him a formal contract?
I have evidence that Mattson put forward the names of players based in Sweden who were nursing injuries only for them to turn down the invitation at the last minute. He could go to the same website and challenge me. I will then present him a list of seven such players with all the dates to nail his hypocrisy.
Now back to my point about Sierra Leone football being held in a headlock by a group of shadowy characters I can’t name now because I am still trying to put the bits and pieces together. This group, using third-rate players’ agents, is remote-controlling decisions about issues such as which players get called up for matches and who actually get on to the field of play. They are interested in giving their boys enough caps and playtime and so enhance their chances of making it to big European leagues. That’s the deal I am investigating. It will take a bit more time but the facts will be published soon.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record on this issue, I have to restate that this country has to confront some uncomfortable truths about its most popular. No country will make it in international football when the domestic game is in such mess. The national league is more than six months behind schedule.
Overdependence on foreign-based players has taught us some very bitter lessons. Our players are in countries not known for their footballing prowess. Even there, a lot of them are struggling to get playing time. It is also a fact that football fans and the much-maligned technical staff at the SLFA secretariat have never seen some of the players they invite into the national squad in action.
The SLFA is normally harassed into inviting them either by the ministry or the raucous football media in Sierra Leone, mostly under the manipulation of the players’ agents I referred to earlier.
Once again an opportunity to make some vital corrections has opened up with the departure of Mattson. Already, I have heard about a South African coach putting his name forward for the job. The details are not clear but I call on the FA to take full charge of the process this time. They should never be blackmailed by any suggestion that central government funding for the national team will be in jeopardy if the ministry does not drive the process. There is no way a president who campaigned with footballs and has since pledged to die for young people will allow football to die in Sierra Leone. The political consequences will be too heavy for him to carry into retirement.
The final uncomfortable truth that Sierra Leone must confront is that age has caught up with more than 60% of the current squad and there is no clear plan by which those players will be retired from the national game by the end of this year. They are very highly experienced but it’s just natural that even the best players will eventually go.
As for replacing Mattson, because of the job at hand, it may be right to bring in another coach very quickly. I would have no queries if a foreigner was employed. But this country must take the long view of this matter. The Nigerians have discovered the trick and home grown Keshi is scoring high marks there. Talented Sierra Leoneans must be trained for this job. Our government could, for example, ask its many friends for technical support in this area. There are many countries that will be ready to help. In fact Ghana’s equivalent of Keshi is already undergoing further training paid for by Ghanaian taxpayers. Why should we be any different?
The people of Sierra Leone have suffered enough heartbreak.
