Knowledge is Power

About three of our colleagues left Banjul last night for the Senegalese capital Dakar to undergo a weeklong training course on feminine football.

They are The Point’s sports editor Sainabou Kujabi, who is also the president of the Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia (SJAG), Isatou Dumbuya also of The Point newspaper and Fatoumatta Saho of City Limits Radio.

For a week in Dakar, these young and enthusiastic journalists will study the basics of feminine football in the context of the Women’s World Cup due to take place next July in Germany.

It is clear from the course content that they are in for some serious stuff.

The course content includes live match reporting and the structure of sports news writing.

The participants will also hear lectures on the history of female football around the globe.

We understand that another batch of journalists will leave for the same training, when this batch returns.

Lifelong training is the lifeblood of a good journalist. When journalists stop improving themselves, they get rusty.

It is for this reason that we would like to thank the Agence France Press (AFP) Foundation and FIFA for making this training programme possible.
This is a manifestation of the improved relations between journalists and world football’s governing body, FIFA.

We hope and pray that this relationship goes from strength to strength. We also implore the participants to steep themselves in knowledge during their stay in Dakar, so that they will return home to be more effective journalists.

Their beat is important in any news media organisation, since they report on national sports activities, especially football.

They need to be sound professionally in order to deliver the goods.

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough”.
William Blake