Open Letter to the Sports
Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL)
Omari
Jackson
Mr. President,
It is interesting to hear of your progress after the reminders
from your former president and the expressions from some of you
about the poor state of soccer development in particular and sports
development in general, and I add my voice to the call for a new
change in the administration of sports in the country.
Having heard of your graduation let me join others in
congratulating you for a job well done. I need also remind you of
the success of the periodic Herbert Grigsby memorial lectures, and I
am hoping that my recommendation which I will be revealing to you
may be considered by you, Sir and all your members.
The Sports Writers Association of Liberia, SWAL, has been around
for sometime and I read about the anniversary celebration that was
held in Monrovia. The existence and success of SWAL has, in no
doubt, created the satisfaction that we envisioned in 1985, when it
became necessary that such a body was organized to support the
effort of the Press Union of Liberia, in the discharge of the
activities of sports writers.
I am satisfied that our actions at that period has now borne
fruit and I enjoy a measure of satisfaction when Mr. Momolu V. O.
Sirleaf, the association’s ex-president was moved to speak at the
Herbert Grigsby series to offer a piece of his mind on the current
state of sports writing and those in the management in the country.
While Mr. Grigsby’s memory has been kept alive by the series of
lectures for sometime now, I am with great remembrance of two of our
founding members who lost their lives during the course of the
Liberian civil-war. For those who were around during the formative
years of SWAL, you should remember the late Klon Hinneh, (BBC
Correspondent) and the late T-Maxon Teah who were both instrumental
in the organization of SWAL.
While the late Grigsby’s series should be continued, I am
recommending similar lectures to be run alternatively to commemorate
the memories of Hinneh and that Teah.
Mr. Hinneh was the sports editor of the defunct FOOTPRINTS TODAY
at the time I was a sports reporter at the DAILY STAR, (1985) under
(editor) Mr. J. Burgess Carter, presently with the Daily Observer.
Mr. T-Max Teah, an enthusiastic sports fan played a fatherly role
in the establishment of SWAL. Teah and Hinneh’s contributions in
those periods were so immense that I am suggesting for your
consideration some avenues for their remembrance, for to be true to
you they played significant roles to develop sports writing and
encouraged many of us then promising sports reporters.
My recommendations are not being made because of the role I
played in the establishment of SWAL, but rather they are requests
that I urge you to deliberate with your colleagues, for I still hold
in fond memories contributions of the two great sons of Liberia.
Personally I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. T-Max Teah when he
recognized my writing ability and offered me a job at the defunct
DAILY STAR, and my editor, J. Burgess Carter, who offered me every
support available. May the good Lord bless Burgess! I encourage many
of you to seek his counsel whenever the going gets tough!
I mentioned this brief anecdote of my career as a sports writer
not to demonstrate any special ability I had at the time, for I was,
like many a sports reporter, someone dreaming to, one day, become a
writer of some reputation.
And there was evidence that I rose to the occasion, when I joined
the DAILY OBSERVER around 1987 and continued with my aggressive
reporting and analysis, before and after games. And you may be glad
to note that I earned several awards as a sports writer in Liberia.
I hope I have not bored you with bits and pieces about myself and
hoping that you will humbly accept my recommendation and place it at
the topmost agenda for your consideration.
I may have another occasion to deliberate on the state of affairs
of sports writing but having been away from Liberia for the last
twelve years, I find it difficult to understand the nature of the
challenges and difficulties you and sports administrators are
facing.
Finally, I urge all of you members continue to engage each other
in the discipline you have chosen, and if you persist with reading
and supplement it with daily personal writing practice, you may
attain to a level that you will find your writing exciting and
enjoyable to those who read and listen to your work.
And please feel free to contact me through the following email,
for I am with you in spirit as you struggle to provide direction to
those who share in your destiny.
Mr. Omari Jackson
Former Secretary General and founding member SWAL
Atlanta, GA USA Email:
jackson_omari@hotmail.com
You can check on my blog of short stories for your reading enjoyment
at: http://ojacksomaz8.wordpress.com/
