The astute Boss of the National Sports Authority (NSA) Dr. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai has said that national teams should reflect players coming from all the regions and not just from Freetown.
He said this while addressing the cricket delegation on Friday at his Signal Hill Road office.
He spoke about the importance of sports decentralization to tap out raw talents beyond the corners of the Western Area. “It is through this we can get teams that reflect players from all the regions, and this should go along with organizing local national leagues. We cannot win international tournaments if we do not have local leagues playing,” he said, adding that he took office 14 months ago with the growth initiative to support all thriving sporting disciplines.
On employment-centered initatives, the NSA Boss disclosed that they are going to support ten national leagues from ten performing sporting disciplines this year. “The reason is that
the government wants to create jobs, so we are looking at crowded sports,” he explained, stating his belief of sport no longer being a voluntary activity carried out for free and that at professional levels, people should be paid for playing sports.
“This is the same thing we are doing in football. We are providing funds for the male and female premier leagues where the clubs only have to pay their players,” he explained.
On the ambience of sport governance, Dr. Abdulai said he has seen too many conflicts during the last 20 years. “This is affecting sports. I believe in conflict resolution with a common agenda that supersedes our differences. One man cannot do everything. Leaders should bring people along. I believe in good governance,” he said, adding that suspicion on financial issues is one of the problems affecting sports, calling on sports elites to encourage dissenting views.
