The Walker Field U-13 League
-Liberia’s Hope for Soccer Revival
By M.V. Paasewe
August 30, 2002

Meet Liberia’s unpaid sidewalk entertainers. These are the young boys who block traffic in Monrovia on a daily basis. They are the regular source of heartache for parents who send their kids to sell foodstuff around town, for the petty trader children usually end up abandoning their doughnut boxes and ground pea wares to watch the exploits of their counterparts who are killing themselves to become the next George Oppong Weah and James Salinsa Debbah.

The venue is Walker Field on Broad Street opposite the Sports Commission which houses the nation’s premier open air basketball gymnasium. This rocky gravel 8-8 soccer pitch is where you will find the crème de la crème of Liberian youth soccer talents. From New Kru Town, Gibraltar, Logan Town, Sinkor on to Paynesville city, young boys as little as nine, gather every God-sent day at Walker Field to hone their soccer prowess under the aegis of William Witherspoon.

The current Under-13 County Meet is sponsored by Don Bosco Homes, says Witherspoon. Aptly named the “Back to School Tournament”, the league is a “campaign against the use of children in armed conflict”.

William Witherspoon is the undisputed chairman of Walker Field. He has held this unenviable position for the past three years.

“This program is intended to distract our young children from vices such as armed conflict, juvenile delinquency and stealing,” Witherspoon avers.

“My dream is to see a better Liberia for our children, because they are the future leaders of this nation,” he says, noting, youth soccer program is a process that must be nurtured.
                                                        William Witherspoon chairman of Walker Field.

“Our players need to graduate through stages,” the former third division coach says, citing the ongoing lackluster LFA national football league as a classic example of kids jumping into soccer premiership without going through the rudiments.

Witherspoon reasoned, “The current LFA league is criticized today of not being competitive because most the players never went through youth programming”.

Young George Kollie, alias Zamaranov, a top striker for New Kru Town FC is one of Witherspoon charges. The lanky 12-year-old dribbler is the league’s MVP. The lad is a testimony of things to come, if and only if concentration can be built around youth soccer programming.

Besides the Don Bosco Homes that helped the “Back to School Tournament” with sporting materials sometime ago, the league, according to Witherspoon, is a self-help project. The Ministry of Youth and Sports had initially assisted with nets and balls, “but that’s like a drop in the bucket, although we appreciate the assistance”.

Unarguably, Liberia’s hope of soccer renewal rests with initiatives such as the Walker Field project. And just as Witherspoon believes, the buildup must begin with those youngsters who are struggling to make a name for themselves and in the process striving to bury their war traumas.                          George Kollie, alias Zamaranov

That is just where George Manneh Weah began his soccer exploits: in the boondocks of Gibraltar, on the dusty Clara Town Football pitch.