Banjul — Barely four months after the then president of The Gambia Football Association (GFA), Alhaji Gabbie Sosseh withdrew the senior national team from the West African Football Union (WAFU) championship resulting to his impeachment on November 27, the newly selected GFA executive have followed the same steps by withdrawing the two Gambian clubs qualified for the 2005 African Cup competitions.

The two Gambian clubs namely Wallidan FC and Armed Forces, who were entered for the African Club championship and the CAF Confederation Cup respectively, were last week officially withdrawn from the competitions by the GFA.Speaking on Sports file last Monday, GFA President Alhaji Omar Sey confirmed the withdrawal of Wallidan and Armed Forces from the 2005 African Club competitions.

The reasons advanced by GFA boss are the ground constraints as the only stadium in the country, Independence Stadium, was closed by its management for refurbishment toward the CAF U-17 championship to be held in Banjul from 7 to 21 May 2005.

According to GFA president, they do not have a stadium in which to host the two matches that will be played in Banjul. He added that the Serrekunda mini-stadiums are not up to standard to host international matches. Mr. Sey indicated that after consulting with respective teams and stakeholders in football, they finally decided to withdraw the two teams from the international competitions.

But the withdrawal of Wallidan and Armed Forces from the CAF championship has brought mixed feelings in the midst soccer fans in The Gambia. Some even pointed out that a certain number of stadiums in some parts of Africa are worse than the Serrekunda East and West mini-stadiums. Thus they do not see why GFA cannot host those matches on the indicated local grounds.

Others believe that the GFA should have arranged to play in Senegal especially in Kaolack as Liberia was doing the same in Ghana during the civil war period.

It could be recalled that Wallidan were withdrawn against Ashanti Kotota of Kumasi, Ghana while Armed Forces were paired with Kanstar FC of Guinea Conakry.

Plymouth-Dakar Challengers Arrive

The first groups of the 2005 Plymouth-Dakar challengers were expected in Banjul yesterday Thursday 06th 2005 after three weeks of intensive drive from the United Kingdom through Europe, the Sahara desert and finally The Gambia.

Speaking to Independent Sports, the Executive Secretary of the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC), George .F. Gomez said that this year, they are expecting four groups of challengers.

The first group comprising 54 cars were expected in Banjul yesterday evening, the second group on the 13th or 14th January, the third group on the 20th or 21st January 2005 said Mr. Gomez.

Mr. Gomez revealed that the fourth group will leave UK on February 18th as a way of celebrating The Gambia's Independence Day. "We are arranging of someone from the Gambian Embassy in U.K. to start the race", George Gomez revealed.

He stated that for the first time in the history of the 'rally' the leader of the first group is a female and among the lot are a motorbike that would be donated to the KMC police and a fire engine to be given to the Fire Service. Mr. Gomez added that this year, 90% of the cars coming are left-hand drive.

Gomez said that as usual, the challengers will be welcomed at the ferry terminal in Banjul where cultural groups would perform and the parade will first go to the Banjul City Council to meet the Mayor of Banjul Pa Sallah Jeng and later to Serrekunda and finish at the Independence Stadium where the Mayor of KMC Abdoulie Conteh and the British High Commissioner will welcome them.George Gomez revealed that this year they are welcoming the challengers in collaboration with Arab Gambia Islamic Bank (AGIB) who have prepared tee-shirts and will lead the parade.

U-17 Team Training Programme Disrupted

Barely four months before the CAF U-17 championship to be hosted in Banjul, The Gambia national U-17 team has not yet received the proper training the head coach Fred Osam Duodu needed in the past two months.

According to the training programme drew by head coach Fred Osam Duodu, the U-17 team should have played four (4) international friendly matches between November and December 2004. And according to the proposed programme of coach Fred Osam Duodu, the U-17 team should have played against Guinea Conakry on November 07th, and later against Morocco.

Another match against Cote d'Ivoire was scheduled for December 5th and the last match of the year was to be against Mali on the 19th of December 2004. But unfortunately for coach Fred Osam Duodu none of those proposed friendly matches took place.

The only real test match for the U-17 was their triangular tournament in Tunisia.

For this month, the U-17 team is planning two international friendly matches away. The first against Burkina Faso on January 16th and another against Ethiopia on January 31st 2005, but nothing is yet certain for those matches.