By Arfang M.S. Camara
Serrekunda East Sports Development Organisation (SESDO) on Saturday, conducted their balloting of 32 teams ahead of the commencement of the Serekunda East Zone nawettan qualifiers which is set to begin on Friday.
The balloting which was graced and witnessed by all the 32 teams’ representatives was held at the Semega Janneh Hall in Serrekunda East.
Speaking in an interview with The Voice Sports, Modou Yusupha Cham, president of SESDO said their committee is very well prepared and ready to stage its nawettan season starting with the qualifiers which begins on Friday.
“We are starting the qualifiers in the Buffer Zone on Friday. We sent all the external letters to the Referees Association, Inspector General of Police for security and Red Cross.”
According to him, they wanted to start the qualifiers tomorrow, on Tuesday, but due to lack of enough manpower which is why they decided to start this weekend (on Friday) so as to start with full force.
Asked about the criteria used for the selection of teams to participate in this year’s qualifiers, he said they have about 50 clubs that applied to participate but selected only 32 teams based on their blueprint.
“The criteria we looked at to select teams for the qualifiers are first the teams must be organized, technical teams must be separated from the executive. Teams must have a proper letter-head and a logo and must also have responsible executive members like president and secretary general,” he revealed.
This, he said, is a very good informative format, noting that all the criteria were looked at by a committee setup and led by the 1st vice president of SESDO together with stakeholders.
He noted that this is a very good system which is not very popular, adding that this system has helped more than four, five teams in one community come together to form one team.
Mr. Cham further said that the qualifiers will feature 32 teams with 32 games, adding that each team is required to play four games in a knockout format in order to qualify.
Babucarr Krubally alias B.B., Team representative for Payford FC, expressed delight to see grassroots football coming back to the Serrekunda East zone, adding that not playing football for two years in Serrekunda East was not helping.
“We that are under the grassroots football were not happy that football wasn’t playing in Serrekunda East. But today, we feel very excited after witnessing the balloting for the commencement of the nawettan qualifiers,” he said.
Samba M. Jammeh, Team representative for Ron Tah Bi FC expressed mix-feelings for being among the new teams to participate in the SESDO qualifiers, adding that their main objective is to uplift sports in their area.
