GAM FOOTBALL NEWS:
The Gambia’s President, His Excellency Adama Barrow, on Friday 11th May, hosted the Gambia’s triumphant U-20 national team at the state house in Banjul.
The team who had recently been crowned champions of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone A, were led by the President of the Gambia Football Federation, Mr Lamin Kabba Bajo and the team’s coach Matarr A Mboge ahead of their African U-20 Nations Cup qualifiers against Benin on Sunday 13th May at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, to the President’s office, where the President welcomed them and paid homage to their wonderful victory, also made donation of D200,00.00 (two hundred thousand dalasis) for their heroics.
The President, who also made a donation of D200,00.00 (two hundred thousand dalasis) to the team for their heroics, told the Young players of his pride and delight in seeing them bring home the trophy for the first time in the competition’s history and the Gambia’s first since 2009, when the country’s U-17s beat Algeria in the final of the African Youth Championship in Algiers.
He also called on those in the gathering, which also included the Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr Henry Gomez and the Secretary General of the Gambia Football Federation, Mr Lamin Jassey, to rally together to move the nation’s football forward as he thanked the football administrators for their great effort, and had given them his assurance that his government will give all the necessary support need to promote the game.
After receiving the news of the U-20s victory in Liberia a week ago, the president posted a heartfelt congratulatory message to his social media feeds, on both Twitter and Facebook, which reads:
‘Congratulations to our young Scorpions on their victory as the new football Champions of West Africa in the U-20 WAFU Cup of Nations in Liberia! We are proud of your performance as the only unbeaten team of the tournament. As a football fan, I am indeed happy. I renew my commitment to continue to champion sports as a means of engaging young people as well as promoting the cause of national cohesion and harmony’.
The Gambian President is a well known fan of football, who followed, both the local and international league footballs before becoming the president, with Arsenal being his favourite team. So it wasn’t surprising to hear him declare his willingness to ensure his government play their part in promoting football, but with that said, those in the football house will hope his words can now be transformed into actions.
Since coming to office, his government have constantly been accused of an oversight on the development of youths and the promotion of sports in the country, and this notion was backed by the mediocre budget been allocated for sporting activities in the last national budget, which some say was the smallest in recent times.
The GFF have been calling for the government to contribute their quota in the development of football time and again, in fact its president, Lamin Kabba Bajo asserted this rhetoric on many occasions including his recent interview with the state tv GRTS, that 100% of their funds comes from the World Football Governing Body (FIFA). And in their last visit to the president’s office in June 2017, four months after he came to office, Mr. Bajo made an appeal to his Excellency and the chief parron of sports for his government’s support and assistance in terms of mobility for the Federation, which he said would be utilised by their Technical Department, salaries of coaches and infrastructural assistance.
