A former player of Mighty Barrolle and Lone Star, Mr. Josaiah N. Johnson, “JNJ” says he sees no reason why the Liberia Football Association (LFA) and the government cannot continue to collaborate in working together to help upgrade the standard of football in the country.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer, Mr. Johnson, who once coached the Lone Star, described the recent very poor outings of national team, which produced the first Africa World Best Player in 1995, as disgraceful and disheartening. He lamented that today Liberia is counted among the least developed football associations in Africa.

Liberia's next match is against the Lions of Senegal in the preliminary round of the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers in Dakar, Senegal.

The outspoken football technician recalled that the Government/FA collaboration started in 1963 when the government of late president William V. S. Tubman through the sports commission (now Ministry of Youth and sports) supported Invincible Eleven (IE) football club team in club continental competition against Bamako of Mali. “From that time, all clubs from 1970-1990 where the likes of Joe Nagbe, James Debah, George Weah and other key players that we know today, were all through club championship leagues”, JNJ recalled. He however regretted that the standard of the country’s league has not been tested for several years, as local champions have continued to cite lack of finance for failure to honor CAF (Confederation of African Football) club competitions.

 Speaking on the recent row between the LFA and its statue, George Weah and his bid for the presidency, of the local football house, the one time executive member of the LFA said the obstacles erected by the FA can only be equated to that of the infamous Berlin Wall.

Laws for institutions, as is also the case for the countries, Mr. Johnson said, must be seen to work for the people. But he worried that if a law fails to work for the betterment of the people as it appears to be in the LFA statute (law), such must be repealed to help usher in individuals whose ingenuity will be administratively and technically necessary in forging ahead for a better FA”. “We are all aware that where Ambassador (UNICEF Goodwill) George Weah has reached in world football, he would have been the right person to take us to a higher height as he did in 1996 for the country’s first appearance at the finals of the African Cup of Nations in South Africa. Again we followed what was legal (the statue) and rejected what was right for the betterment of football (George Weah)”.  Even though we knew he was unfairly treated, JNJ said, everyone decided to sit on the fence and failed to help him in an area where he performed splendidly to put Liberia’s football on per with other world football nations.

He has therefore distributed the blame for the downward trend for Liberia among former executives of the LFA, sports writers, congress members of the LFA, former Lone Star players, Liberia football coaches Association and all football enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson is appealing to former executives of the LFA , such as Messrs. Joseph Richards, Willis Knuckles, Jr., Cletus S. Wotorson and Paul E. Mulbah to come to the aid of the country’s football program to save it from total death.