The visitors, Ramassa are a regional football club in Barcelona, Spain. They also operate as a Non-Governmental Organisation using sports to make social change by supporting solidarity in various African countries, including The Gambia.
The Catalan-based club came in the country through the invitation of Kalilu Jammeh, a Spain migrant returnee, who established a foundation that offers humanitarian support to villages and underprivileged children, especially orphanages, to help uplift their lives.
Willy Abraham, president of Real de Banjul, said they are looking at a long-time partnership with Ramassa as they already knew about their support to an orphanage in Jirong village in the North Bank Region.
“They have not done anything yet in terms of sports but we want to try and encourage them to also do similar projects as they are doing in Cameroon. We want them to invest in Real de Banjul’s female football. We have been thinking about such at board level for the past months,” he said.
According to him, they want to talk to Ramassa specifically about female football development, noting that this sector is one of the most important sectors in Gambian sports today.
“This is a step in the right direction for Real de Banjul because we are developing football and young players that is why we established Live Your Dreams Sports Academy where we hope to build a school and accommodation for kids to stay and be educated but also do some technical subjects where if they do not make it in football, they can make it in life after football.”
He added that it is important that they are greedy as a club to give equal rights to all the kids.
Pere Bufi Rof, president of AE Ramassa, expressed optimism over a potential partnership with their host, Real de Banjul.
“This project is all about solidarity with African societies. We have a link with Kalilu Foundation and it brought about our coming to the Smiling Coast of Africa. We hope it would impact the lives of Gambians,” Mr. Rof said.
He added that their trip to the country is not only about the international friendly game with Real de Banjul but that they want to also make an impact in The Gambia.
“I am very impressed with Real de Banjul. There is already a potential link to build a partnership between the two clubs. I believe sports can be used to bring social justice to any community,” he added.
President Rof also revealed a recent fundraising campaign undertaken by his organisation to support the Kalilu Jammeh Foundation in realising its dreams.
“The organisation started a campaign to raise money and support the people of Jirong in the North Bank Region. We intended to achieve £8000 but were eventually able to gather more than that. We had more than £10,000,” he revealed.
The Ramassa President said the mobilised funds, which are equivalent to (D570,000) would be donated to the foundation to help improve the lives and livelihood of residents of the village.
Kalilou Jammeh, who invited AE Ramassa football team into the country through his Foundation, expressed delight with the partnership.
According to him, his partner, Ramassa had wanted to come earlier but due to Covid-19 restrictions they decided to come now.
He expressed hope that the partnership between his foundation, Real de Banjul and Ramassa will go a long way in developing kids’ education, sports and skills.
