Julangel FC will on Friday 7 February take on Demba Kunda Karumba in the youth annual football tournament organised by the Soninkara Youth Development Organization (SYDO) to be held at the Serrekunda East Mini Stadium at 16:00 hours.
This will however be followed by the preparation of the registration of teams from the fifty-three Sarahuleh communities in the nation.
Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the Super Cup final held at the SYDO building on Kairaba Avenue, the organization’s media officer, Sisi Sawaneh, said the aim of the tournament is to unite and better strengthen the Soninkara society.
She added that football is one of the fastest means to unite the youth.
Muhammed Papa Njie, a member of the organization, who also heads the Gambia Basketball Association, said the tournament is a way of bringing people together as they are the minority in the country.
The only way to get the Sarahuleh is through football, he added.
He also looked forward to having technical training for coaches and referees to help develop football from the grassroots of the Sarahuleh community.
GFF technical director Ebrima Manneh, in his remarks, said the GFF is looking forward to receiving development partners.
He encouraged the organisers to go beyond organizing only Sarahuleh community-based football tournaments.
The new GFF structure is set out to get all stakeholders to be part of them, which has given rise to a third divisional tournament that has qualification rounds.
He encouraged the 53Sarahuleh communities to be part of the structure, saying it is open to all.
He also said the Sarahuleh tournament would present an opportunity for the community to come up with a divisional team.
In capacity building, he says the team management needs to know their roles in the process of their teams’ administrations.
He further encouraged them to embark on an educational process for effective management of their clubs, as well as to be having medical personnel in their administrative bodies, as it is also needed in sport.
He urged them to seek audience with the GFF to come up with their programmes of activities.
