West
Coast Region champions Fortune FC of Farato were on Sunday 14 August 2016
crowned champions of the Access to Justice National Football Championship.
This
followed a 2-nil win over Kwinella FC in a well-contested final of the national
championship tournament played at the Soma Mini Stadium, Lower River Region.
Goals
from Modou Senghore and Abdoulie Baldeh in the 6th and 30th minutes of the game
were all but enough to earn the Farato outfit a well-deserved victory over
their Kiang counterparts.
Fortune
FC secured their place to the final after beating Kwinella FC and Diabugu
Batapa FC in their opening two games of the championship.
They
hammered Kwinella FC 6-1 in the opening game of the tournament played on
Thursday 11 August 2016 before going on to humiliate Diabugu Batapa FC 5-0 the
following day.
Kwinella
FC, on the other hand, advanced to the final after recovering from their 6-1
defeat in the hands of Fortune FC to beat Diabugu FC 2-1 in a well-fought
encounter played on Saturday 13 August 2016.
As
champions, Fortune FC took home a giant trophy, a cash amount of D40,000 and
two footballs.
Kwinella
FC, who emerged as runners-up, received D30,000 and two footballs, while a cash
amount of D10,000 went to Diabugu Batapa FC as third place holders.
Bully
Dahaba of Fortune FC was named the best player of the tournament and as such
received D5,000 and a pair of football boots.
Sulayman
Krubally of Diabugu Batapa FC was voted the best goalkeeper of the 4-day
tournament hence pocketed home D5,000 and a pair of football boots.
Modou
Senghore of Fortune FC received D5,000 as the leading goal scorer of the
tournament after netting 3 goals.
Diabugu
Batapa FC were rewarded with D5,000 as the most discipline team, while Kwinella
FC walked home with the best fan-base award of D5,000.
A
cash amount of D20, 000 was given to each team for preparation.
The
Access to Justice National football championship is part of Access to Justice
civic awareness campaign under the EU Technical Assistance on Access to Justice
and Legal Education Project for The Gambia.
The
goal of the campaign is to enhance access to justice through civic and legal
education and provision of information on available justice mechanisms.
The
campaign also seeks to promote public awareness on civic rights and duties;
awareness on the obligations of law enforcement agencies; disseminate knowledge
and enhance confidence in the tripartite justice system.
The
key target audience composed of alkalolou, chiefs, imams, women, community
leaders, youth, and law-enforcement agencies.
Tournaments
were piloted in Brikama, West Coast Region; Kwinella, Lower River Region, and
Kurau Arfang/Diabugu Batapa in Upper River Regions.
The
tournament was organised by the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) and
funded by the European Union to promote youth participation in access to
justice project mechanisms.
The
national football championship brought together the three winners of the
tournaments organised in the piloted locations.
Jaine
Joof, Fortune FC’s head coach, said they “deserve to be champions” as his
players gave the game the respect it deserved.
He
said they capitalized on the opponents’ weakness to beat them.
“We
were better than them technically and tactically,” he remarked but was quick to
add that Kwinella are a good team.
Joof
commended NCCE and the EU for coming up with such an initiative.
