By Siapha Mulbah
The Deputy Minister of Sports Andy Quamie describes constraints faced by football clubs in the country as a major stride to the growth of the game amidst the financial difficulties in the country.
At the 27th Ordinary congress of the , held over the weekend, the Minister revealed that the greatest contributions made over the years to maintain football clubs are solely from the pockets of club presidents.
According to him, it is a huge burden for the presidents to settle financial arrears of football institutions single handedly with the fact that there are other individual responsibilities to cater FOR.
Despite the situation, Quamie asserted that the presidents of the various clubs have remained committed to keeping their respective teams competing in the local league with efforts to make the game grow locally.
“Apart from the little contributions teams get from the LFA, almost all of the supports to the clubs are from the presidents. These are monies they take from their own pockets to support those teams we see in our competition,” he said.
Minister Quamie as president of Watanga Football Club lauded his colleagues and called on others to join the developmental plan of Liberian football by investing into players and teams participating in the local competitions.
He said, “Some of us had being in the football business over 25 years and it is not easy to keep a team running without sponsorship. Only few teams are owned by institutions and some only have about 10 percent which is not enough to cover what you do as club presidents. Thank you so much and keep it up as we look forward to having others join the process.”
The Liberia Football Association for the first time in its history held a congress to its own headquarters in Paynesville which was attended by football stakeholders and club administrators where proposals from the FA’s Executive Committee were overwhelmingly voted.
LFA’s president Mustapha Raji presiding over the 27th congress said the proposals summited and subsequently voted are all for the intent of making the development of football an achievable fight.
Raji called on team administrators to work with FA as the case over the years to find more programs for Liberian football, frowning that the clubs are not propagating the good message of the FA.
He added, “There is no time that teams have taken to their media platforms publications of the football association donating cash to the clubs. We take this as an ingrate to the work we are doing to make things better for all.”
