Snowe Begs Oppong to Come Home
Cautions Media Against Biased Reportage
By Molley V. Paasewe
 

 

 

 

 

April 15, 2002

The president of the Liberia Football Association (LFA), Edwin Snowe, has called on Liberian soccer ambassador, George Oppong Weah, to reconsider his decision and come back home for the development of football in Liberia.

"We will never be ungrateful to George for all that he has done for football in this country. We will never succeed without those that put us the map," Snowe declared Sunday at the FIFA-refurbished Antoinette Tubman Stadium on UN Drive during official opening programs of the long-awaited national football league.

The youthful sports administrator frowned on accusations made recently against him in the media, saying that while in Mali, the president called informing him about comments attributed to him by Weah on a local talk show. "But my conscience is clear, that is why I have declined to respond," Snowe said, adding, "I am out for peace".

Snowe further called on "all those with cell phones that call daily and send wrong information out of Liberia to please tell all of our players, the foreign based players, especially Ambassador George Weah, that we love him with our hearts."

"We will not be satisfied until our brother and friend George Weah comes back to this country and works with us," Snowe implored.

Snowe disclosed that the FA in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports would use the national league as the nucleus for scouting players of the new national football team.

"This is the beginning process of our new national team. We are going to begin the scouting process. In the next few days, the Minister of Youth and Sports and I will work together with the technical department to put together a panel of experts comprising veteran coaches, sports medics and administrators to watch every game in the national league and begin the selection process," Snowe averred, adding the process would be transparent so that the new national team represents the aspirations of all Liberians.

The LFA president also used the occasion to call on club supporters to patronize the national league. "For too long you have decried the absence of the national league. Now that the league is open, don't leave the teams with the presidents and officials alone. Come and support your teams," Snowe said.

Recounting the golden era of Liberian football, Snowe recalled the days when President Samuel Doe attended the games. "Those days you could see officials, people in our society identifying with the game, unlike today when our president's hands are tied beyond his control for security, economic and other reasons that previous governments did not experience, causing him not to fully identify with the game," Snowe said, adding, there are people today that are in high places in society because of sports, yet they neglect the game.

"We call on them to come back home," Snowe said, closing with this advise:

"As we commence this league we call on the journalists to suspend the political aspect of their reporting and broadcasting and look into the technical development of the game, because that is what football is all about. Today our journalists have gotten themselves so tied up with football politics, leaving the truth and taking sides. You read the stories and see fabrications. We read headlines on the Internet that US$50,000 was sent to Mali for Lone Star by the Mobilization Committee, when indeed only US$27,000 was sent. The bank papers are there. Go to Ecobank and find out."