CAF, FIFA Extend
Liberian Match Official's Contract
-Express
Implicit Confidence , Trust
By: Leroy M. Sonpon, III
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has renewed the
appointment of the former Secretary General of the Liberia Football
Association (LFA), George Wah Williams to the Board of Discipline for
three more years (2009 – 2011).
Williams is amongst hosts of African football personalities who have
retained their outstanding relations with the CAF, based on their
distinguished performances over the last three years.
According to reports, the young Liberian’s renewed appointment is a
declaration of the CAF’s confidence in his capacity as a Liberian who
commands great respect in his country.
Williams is a member of the CAF Disciplinary Committee headed by South
Africa Football Association (SAFA) CEO, Cllr. Raymond Hack; Technical
Director of the Egyptian Football Association, Mohammed El Saigy
(EGYPT); and Secretary General of the North Africa Football Union (NAFU),
Moheidine Baccar (Tunisia), amongst several others.
The young Liberian was first appointed in February 2006 for his first
three-year term and was appointed on several occasions as a member of
CAF President Issa Hayatou’s delegation to the following
championships: African U-17 Championship, Lome, Togo (2007); African
FUTSAL Championship, Tripoli, Libya (2008); and Championship African
Nations, Abidjan, La Cote D'Ivoire (2009).
“Williams is also a CAF and FIFA Match Official without ever having
commissioned a match in Liberia, a mark unheard of in the history of
Liberian Football. And at all his appointments, the young Liberian,
now cum football administrator, qualified the trust reposed by CAF and
FIFA,” the CAF website said.
Speaking to Daily Observer Sports over the weekend, Williams confirmed
the extension as member of the CAF’s Board of Discipline and CAF/FIFA
Match Official.
“I am humbled by the continuing confidence reposed in me by the CAF
and look forward to working for the uplifting of [the quality of]
football on the continent,” Williams said.
Meanwhile, Williams has startlingly revealed that his resignation as
Secretary General of the LFA was tendered amidst personal
disappointments, coupled with decisions considered inglorious to the
image and integrity of the institution.
The former LFA chief scribe told Daily Observer Sports of his undying
commitment to the development of football in Liberia and said he
envisions a day where there is a leadership that carries a corporate
character, bearing the capacities to lift the profile of the game in
Liberia higher.
“I would like to urge the Liberian football stakeholders to strive
selflessly to transform the game for the good of all rather than carve
out programs that are self-serving,” he asserted.
“Liberian football, like the country itself, is immeasurably endowed
with immense resources (talents) but the visionary inadequacies being
experienced has translated into the current quality and state of the
nation’s football.”
He called on the government to invest resources while requiring
accountability from the governing authorities of Liberian football and
other sports federations in the country.
Williams is now President of Vantaa Sports Marketing and Management
Company, a local sports firm established since his resignation from
the LFA.
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