President Wade Calls for National Football Conference
Wednesday 6th February 2008

On Thursday 31st January, Senegal unfortunately crashed out of the Africa Cup of Nations, their bid suffering a big dent in the hands of an impressive Angolan side 3 goals against Senegal’s lone(1) goal. It must have been for Senegal a shocking defeat, as Senegal had maintained good form especially in its 2-2 Opener against Tunisia. A third  match draw (1-1) against South Africa helped only in putting the final nail in the coffin. All hopes of holding a place in the finals on 10th February had died. Either ‘Mother Luck’ was not with them, or perhaps team effectiveness was absent, or both. Whatever the problem was, it IS now time for a proper diagnosis. In the words of the Head of State, President Wade: “I have asked the Prime Minister to invite all stakeholders of football to meet and discuss the problems Senegalese football is facing, and make recommendations for the advancement of Senegalese football.”

The President couldn’t have come with a better call, especially when it relates to a football side which only a few years back (Japan/Korea 2002) had eliminated major teams in the World Cup including defending champions FRANCE in the opening game. Today before the Cup of Nations even commences really in earnest, the team is already out and homeward bound! The President is therefore right. Certainly in competitive sports, to neglect the importance of stakeholders is to court failure or even disaster. It is the stakeholders that constitute the building blocks of a reliable and solid outfit; stakeholders are the foundation and the pillars of any successful team; without the stakeholders any team’s structure will sooner or later collapse.

A ‘unity’ of stakeholders should therefore be the objective and pursuit of any prudent footballing nation. It is governments and their Sports Ministries that should facilitate, co-ordinate, and spearhead such an enterprise, and it is therefore laudable that President Wade is doing just that. As sports development requires massive financial investment, and as governments generally cannot do it all, Governments should therefore facilitate the participation and contribution of the Private Sector, particularly financial or business enterprises. But often, business enterprises because of their profit-making mission, have been reluctant to contribute when governments do not offer them the appropriate incentives. In the final analysis, governments should provide tax relief or tax rebate to Businesses on amounts donated to sports. Businesses would be found reluctant to donate funds to sports and then pay again tax to government on those same monies.

As a result, Businesses just tend to make minimal or token contributions. Governments should therefore consider this situation deeply in order to attract the greatest participation of Big Business in sports promotion and development.

Additionally, Governments should facilitate the participation of potential players by providing adequate sports facilities (infrastructure) progressively in all parts of the countries. This while expanding the game, will also help the recruitment drive at all levels of the nation. This should be complemented by assistance to sporting associations and teams for them to realize their full potential technically and administratively. Without technical competence and good administration, no sport can prosper for long. Governments should pay heed to this reality, and assist in the provision of well- qualified coaches even under Technical Assistance packages.

It is hoped that a national conference of stakeholders would come up with the issues and the recommendations. All that is usually left undone in such exercises, is for those recommendations to be followed up in earnest and not left to collect dust on bureaucratic shelves or in the minds of uncommitted officials.

On the part of The Gambia, this should be another signal once more of their obligation to sports development. The National Sports Policy 1999 –2008 is virtually at an end. What have the authorities got to tell the nation in general and the sporting fraternity in particular?

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