Port Loko Member of Parliament set to revive Sierra Leone's oldest football club.

The honorable member of parliament for Constituency #75 in Port Loko district, Abdul Latif Sesay, has promised to transform Port Loko’s Bai Bureh Warriors football team. The Warriors have, for far too long, been inactive in football activities.

According to Honorable Sesay, for a very long time the district football team has lacked behind in terms of football. He said that one of the major reasons responsible for that was the lack of financial support for the Warriors team.
He confirmed that indigenes of Port Loko district who are in the diaspora have made commitments to support the team as a way of reviving sports in the district.

“Football is dead in Port Loko district not only my constituency. People want to come around to support sports in the district but they are finding it difficult to channel their help to sport.”

Honorable Sesay continued that he has a short-term plan from now to December to also construct basketball and volleyball courts in the central park of Port Loko town. He said he is doing that for young people to engage their mind in other areas.

“Sports is a very expensive game in the world, stakeholders in the district would come onboard to support but the sustainability is the problem. One problem Port Loko is facing is the lack of multinational companies to support the Bai Bureh Warriors.”

He however said most of the young boys who are playing football in the district are from poor backgrounds, so they are finding it extremely challenging to buy themselves football items.

Honorable Sesay said that his relationship with other colleague honorables is very good and that he has brought them onboard to bring life back to sports in the district.

“One of the problems we are facing as a district is the lack of honesty among those running football in Port Loko.”

Honorable Abdul Latif Sesay furthered that he is going to set up a committee to facilitate all programs that would support the Bai Bureh Warriors team.

He said even though his focus will be football, he will also take into consideration other sporting disciplines like volleyball and basketball to help transform the district.

Alhaji Sankoh is a sports presenter at Port Loko’s Radio Bankasoka. He says that for a very long time, the Warriors have been out of touch because of the removal of the training field belonging to the team. He said the move by Honorable Sesay is very good and the people of Port Loko district appreciate it and have decided to give their full support in bringing sports back to life in the district.

“The decision by Honorable Sesay to take the youth minds off their bad activities to something productive and beneficial to them is a laudable venture,” says Sankoh.

The Bai Bureh Warriors team was founded in 1965, which makes it one of Sierra Leone’s oldest district teams. They won the FA cup in 1981-82 and represented Sierra Leone in the then ‘Africa Cup of Cup Winners’ competition.

Bai Bureh Warriors has never participated in Sierra Leone’s premier league club competition. They are a division one club in the northern part of Sierra Leone. 

The Warriors gained prominence in the country’s football when they produced Gebassay Sesay, one of Sierra Leone’s most popular football players, who went on to play with the national team ‘Leone Stars.’

By Muctar Korma.