May 26, 2021
By: Mohamed Abu Conteh
The Western Area Urban District Football Association has on the 22nd May, 2021 distributed football equipment to non-division` clubs in Western Area. The ceremony took place at the Fourah Bay field in the East End of Freetown.
This came in as a result of the of the Covid-19 relief fund allocated by the FA to all Regions.
The Chairman of the Western Area Urban District Football Association, Alhaji Abdulrahman Davis expressed appreciation to the FA for such gesture, noting that this is unprecedented.
The FA deemed it fit to ensure that support is rendered to non-division clubs with the second tranche of the Covid-19 relief fund.
Alhaji Abdulrahman Davies stated: “My Association FAFA, being the only mini league association that organizes non division competition in western area, ensured that all these talents have not gone down the drain and it is fact that in the past Sierra Leone Premier league many non-division players break through or gained promotion to the premier league.”
Mr. Davis went further by briefly explaining to the clubs how these funds reach them. He disclosed that this fund was tagged by the FA that only clubs with bank account will benefit from it.
“But as a Chairman, I pleaded to the FA in one of our strategy meetings that not all these clubs will meet this criteria so i pleaded on your behalf to apply the same system we applied to the division 2 clubs to buy football equipment and distribute them to the clubs, so the FA gave me the green light and responded in the interest of the growth of the game.”
Alhaji Abdulrahman Davies also made a policy statement that “the four teams to make it to the non-division competition that is currently ongoing at the Fourah Bay field will automatically gain promotion to the second division League.”
According to Osman Sesay the Team manager of Dream Football Foundation, “I feel excited to have received such from the Western Area Urban District Football Association, because I have been into the game for over seventeen (17) years this is the second time am receiving such a gesture for us at the grassroots clubs and will make use of them to help us achieve our dreams to make it to the Premier League.”
Another club representative, Abu Bakarr Serry from Ibrahim FC Football club said he feels good to have received such donations, adding that it is one of the means to develop the game. He used the occasion to extend thanks to the Football Association for thinking about them at the grassroot.
Ibrahim Kanu, the Secretary General of Liverpool Sierra Leone football Academy said he feels good, because these are the things they have been struggling to get to help them developed their clubs, but with such support they will now do more to see that they make it to the second division, the first division and the Premier League ultimately.