Hooliganism:
The Saga of Liberian-Senegalese Match
October 11, 2004
As it respects the league table, Liberia stood on the fifth of a
six-rung group competition for the joint African Cup of Nations and
the World Cup games that come on in 2006. From the fifth place with
rivals Senegal in the second position, a win for Liberia from
yesterday's game would have propelled Liberia a step or two upwards.
But that did not happen.
Opinions vary on exactly what went wrong, but football mob and street
hooligans are not as confused: the technical staff of Lone Star is
responsible for the three to nil victory in favor of Senegal. As Bill
Jarkloh reports, the violence that emanated from such rash decision
has marred what would have otherwise been called a "fine" match.
It could have been a better game for the homesters, but the alleged
misapplication of the rules by the center referee Aboubacar Sharaf
from neighboring Cote d'Ivoire turned a match could have been dubbed
as a "fine".
Even if the referee was merciless to Lone Star, the homesters' poor
finishing touches also robbed them of vital early goals to send the
Teranga Lions of Senegal back home with faces bowed down in shame.
The match had commenced on a good note until irate fans flair into
anger and began throwing missiles unto the playing pitch and the
around the perimeter of the field, but not before the Senegalese
netted their third goal midway in the second half.
The spectators who were cheering for the dribbling skills of the likes
of Dio Williams, Dulee Johnson, Anthony Lanford, and John Menyongar,
soon went dead only to re-emerge with insults and yelling above their
voices calling for goals that never came for Lone Star.
Perhaps, more annoying to the spectators was the inability of the
defense to stop Henri Camara who scored twice for his country, and
Bouba Diop who got the curtain raiser within about 42 minutes in the
first half.
The police had made tremendous efforts to clear spectator from around
the perimeter, but they could not stop the volley of missiles from
landing onto the main bowl of the field and sending players and match
officials scurrying for cover.
As the match drew to an end after a hard post-missile restart, the
violence spread into the suburb of Monrovia, with mobsters setting
road-blocks, and breaking the windshields of cars, including that of
The Analyst newspaper.
This was one moment in Liberian football history that a security
detail assigned to a game packed up and left as the spectators'
frustration turned violent.
UNMIL soldiers tried to bring the situation under control, but
apparently with no mandate to meet the mobsters head on - force for
force - their stamp in ending the then rapidly spreading violence was
marginal.
Surprisingly notwithstanding the spreading violence, the Senegalese
cheering squad went ahead, unmolested, dancing and drumming on the
right flank of the stadium throughout the game.
The Senegalese National Television that was transmitting the match
live via satellite had to fold up before the match was actually over.
The soccer festivity suddenly turned into a scene of stone throwing
affairs at the stadium wing and around the field minutes after the
Teranga Lions began piling more pressure.
Before Diop scored the Senegalese' first goal, Lone Star's
American-based striker Kona Cephus fumble a four times without seeing
the back of the net manned by Lions' agile goalie, Tony Sylva.
Kona was brought down twice in the 18th yard box, but referee
Aboubacar waved "play-on," thus evoking uproars of "woos" and "boos".
There were other times the Senegalese played foul and the referee
ignore, according a Liberian coach.
Reasons for the spectators' anger are mixed. One spectator had serious
problem with the Liberia Football Association lodging the match
officials and the visiting team in the same hotel.
"Kardala Kromah and the LFA was not supposed to have allowed the
Senegalese team and the match officials to lodged in the same hotel
knowing that they have this French speaking solidarity," John Jallah,
a spectator seated at Stadium-Wing said.
While many were craving a redeemer of the first goal, Senegal a rather
mature and formidable side, tightened her grips on the ball.
And if Lewis Crayton had better days in running out of posts in past
matches, yesterday was a bad timing and Henri could only flip the ball
over his head and laugh a goal away. That perhaps heated up the
tension that eventually became full-fledged violence.
The object throwing spree which plunged the Congo Town and Sinkor
areas into violence with thugs smashing cars' windshield scared many
car owners.
At the end of the match UNMIL, assisted by the newly trained Liberian
swiftly moved and formed a protective shield around the referees -
Aboubacar and his two assistants, Kasonou Yo and Mian Effiegne, all
from the Ivory coast, and the Senegalese players.
They successfully whisked the referees and the player away from the
field unharmed.
The disgruntlement that accompanied the Senegalese lead in the World
Cup and African Cup of Nations' (CAF) qualifier match, Lions, is set
to put Liberia into problems with the Confederation of African
Football (CAF) and FIFA.
Football experts say the country risk fine or suspension, depending on
the report of the Match Commissioner, Nabi Camara, a Guinean and the
center referee.
The Chair on Security of the Liberia Football Association Cllr.
Theophilus Gould has admitted that the attitude of the spectator was
injurious to Liberia's reputation.
But Gould also suffered humiliation in the midst of the violence.
Eyewitness said an UNMIL police had shown Cllr. Gould insubordination,
but Liberian police on the scene reportedly demanded that UNMIL stand
down and stop disgracing a Minister of Government.
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