The Minister of Sports Paul Kamara has said that "after several meetings with the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) he has asked that the Premier League be replaced with a Nation-wide League".
He made this disclosure in an interview on Eagle FM 91.3 yesterday Monday 17th June.
Kamara told Pa Alie's morning Sport program that he cannot describe the present football clubs as Premier League teams because "they do not meet the criteria of the Barmoi Declaration". He said “the deadline to meet the criteria set in the declaration expires this year and these clubs do not have bank accounts, secretariats, training field, contracted players and technical staff etc. this is why when they represent us in international club competitions they are easily eliminated...they lack endurance and stamina”.
The Minister said a Nation-wide league will bring together different groups of people like the Bike Riders, Market women, Schools "who could set up teams to take part in the league".
Kamara said he was making "a policy statement as the government wants to take the league to the doorstep of everyone".
He said the government has spent "close to 15 billion Leones on Leone Stars since 2007, but their performance as a team is still very poor...by September when our fixture with Equatorial Guinea and subsequent African Nations Cup (AFCON) 2015 qualifiers come up, you will see new set of players as the old ones will give way to those that will come out of this new league I have proposed”.
