SV Laar FC will on Friday 28 February 2014 lock horns with Campeh Bi FC in the final of the youth tournament organised by the Serrekunda East Sports Development Organisation (SESDO) at the Serrekunda East Mini Stadium.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday at SESDO office ahead of the final, Alagie Nyassi, first vice-president of SESDO, said their mandate as a committee is to develop all sports within the Serrekunda East zone and football being one of the most popular sports across the country they feel they should not just be elected into office and fold their hands or stop at only staging nawetan competitions.
Looking at the number of players in the Serrekunda East zone, it is too much and as such all cannot participate in the nawetan, he observed, saying that for this reason they decided to increase from 24 to 32 teams to have a greater number of players as well as give players the opportunity to showcase their talents.
The clubs coming for nawetan qualifying rounds and players within the zone are many hence they have to develop the youth from the grassroots, which is the reason for organising the youth tournament, he pointed out.
The fact that certain clubs do not have youth teams resulted in them deciding to add academies and other clubs to the youth tournament to make up the required number of clubs they need for the competition, Nyassi stated.
“Before football will be interesting, it must go along with discipline,” he said, adding that football also goes with support from fans, but calls on fans to be discipline during the final.
He said further that the winner of the final will go home with a trophy and a cash prize of D5,000 while the runners-up will receive a consolation prize of D3,000.
He noted that registration was pegged at D500, adding that the reason for the tournament is to see that football continues to develop within the zone.
Within the next two to three years some of this youth players will break into the setups of their senior nawetan teams, and from there to the third division, second division, national league and possibly to the national levels or even professional level, he remarked.
Mustapha Drammeh, football programme officer of SESDO, said they are elected not only to develop senior football at the zone, but also at the grassroots.
“If the grassroots level is not well built, we will not be able to have strong national setups,” he says.
They intend to make the competition a continual process so the youthful players can also showcase their talents and stay away from crimes, he noted.
They hope all clubs and their fans will show maximum discipline during the final, he said, while also calling on clubs to be at the field at least an hour before kickoff.
Alagie ‘Papo’ Jandy, a co-opted member of SESDO, also called on clubs and fans to be discipline during the final, saying the success behind reaching the final is discipline.
Any clubs that misbehave will be dealt with, he stated, although they wouldn’t want to reach that level with any club.
Sankung Touray, assistant secretary general of SESDO, said tickets are pegged at just D10 for all areas of the mini stadium.
Lamin Sillah, second vice-president of SESDO, also spoke briefly at the media briefing.
