The issue of Mustapha Carayol

Editor,
I write to comment on your article about Mustapha Carayol, on your Tuesday, 22nd September edition.

It is true that Alhagi Mustapha Carayol is the paternal grandfather of young Mustapha; but his mother is a Gambian, born and brought up in The Gambia; daughter of the late Mr Seedy Jow, and niece to Mr Charles and Mrs Satang Jow. Having attended St Joseph's and St Augustine high schools, his mother only left the Gambia on a Gambia/French Government scholarship to study in France, where she obtained a Masters degree in Linguistics; and she currently works as an interpreter in Britain, where she had taken the then one-year old Mustapha with her.

Regarding the information about the rejection of the offer to play for The Gambia, I think such information should be verified with the Gambian Football Association before publication as it is very misleading. The fact is that Torquay United rejected the offer saying that the Gambian federation did not follow the correct procedure, which should be a fifteen-day notification for the player to be released. He was also called to play for the Under 20's match against Ghana and not Liberia.
Lamin Jobe

Editor’s note:
Thank you, Mr Jobe, for your comment. It is unfortunate, however, that Observer Sports does not owe any explanation to anybody regarding this particular story. It was quite clearly indicated that the said story was sourced from another website, which is the UK-based Herald Magazine, a pro-Torquay United online paper, which apparently had an exclusive interview with Mustapha Carayol.

Regarding the player’s rejection of Gambia’s offer, it was thoroughly investigated and it appeared that young Carayol wanted a first-team place first before considering Gambia’s offer.

It could be recalled that The Gambia’s European coach, Paul Put, was in England a few weeks before the Gambia-Liberia match to watch Gambian players in the UK leagues.
Carayol was among the three players who delighted the coach’s heart. Thus, his subsequent invitation to play in the World Cup qualifying round. The two other players were Edi Sonko of Tranmere Rovers and Omar Koroma of Norwich City.

So, your claim that Carayol was invited to play for the Under 20 side and that the GFA was late to send is invitation do not reflect the true picture. Please log onto www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/sport and check out the September 22nd edition for the original article on Carayol’s rejection of Gambia’s World Cup offer.