March 3, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
Sierra Leone Sports Ambassador, Junior Charlie Bio has described the banning of the National Stadium by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Sierra Leone as sad news for the nation, noting that the message sent to CAF by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) about the condition of the stadium was not in the interest of the country.
According to the Sports Ambassador, the reasons for the banning of the stadium were kind of flimsy, saying the status of the staduim, when compared to other stadiums in the sub-region, is almost the same with regards the seating accommodation, he blasted. “ I could not understand why Sorie Ibrahim Sesay put us in a bad light as if this is not his country”, enquired Junior Bio. He called on the SLFA to act fast and put the country first, noting that the country’s interest should be prioritized at all cost.
It could be recalled that the country’s only national stadium was banned by CAF on the grounds that it was not up to standard to host international competition as it remained only one game for the country to play in the African Qualifying Series.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Yellenkeh has said CAF’s report was contestable, noting that his pitch looks like Liberia’s which has not faced any ban. He said the renovation of the stadium was on course but relaxed by the COVID pandemic, adding that the country will secure a whooping forty million Dollars grant to renovate the entire stadium going down to repairing even the cables.
The Minister accused SLFA of blatant sabotage noting that both his ministry and the newly formed National Sports Authority (NSA) are always left out with no amount of collaboration or respect accorded us by members of the association, he grumbled.
The National Stadium was constructed by the Chinese in the 1970s with a current capacity of thirty thousand.