Gambian football has improved greatly

Unlike some general and phoney perceptions often held about the military by the civil population, Major-General Langtombong Tamba’s compassion and value for human life lies in his humanness.

His adored personality blew up the mysticism shrouding modern military establishments as non-sociable and aggressive. This compels many to wonder whether he is a uniform-man or a civilian.

A fanatical sportsman, Tamba is the Chief of Defence Staff of The Gambia Armed Forces and doubles as the First Vice President of The Gambia Football Association. A one-time FIFA-GFA security officer, Tamba and his boss in sports, Seedy Kinteh, were elected into office to steer the affairs of Gambian football for another four years after Omar Sey’s one-year interim term had expired on December 31, 2005.

In this end of year interview with Observer Sports anchorman Nanama Keita, the GFA No 2 took time off his busy schedules to dwell on, among others issues, the achievements registered by the Gambia Football Association and their shortcomings during the past three years.

Excerpt: Wednesday December 31, 2008, will mark three years since you and your colleagues took over the mantle at GFA. So far what achievements can you burst of?

Well, thank you very much Nanama. I am very delighted to grant this interview, which centres on Gambian football. Coming to your question, I want to put on record that a lot has been achieved over the years. In 2006, we were able to register all the four categories of the National teams, which eventually led to the qualification of the Under 20 team to the CAF U-20 Championships in Congo.

There the team did extremely well winning the bronze medal, and later represented Africa in the World U-20 World Cup in Canada. Another achievement I would like to mention is, if you look at the rankings - FIFA and CAF rankings I mean, the Gambia has progressed greatly. And we are still pushing to get a better ranking.

We are also able to increase teams in division one from 10 to 12. We have also created a first division league in the provinces and these are all geared towards decentralising Gambian football.

In 2008 we have succeeded in building an administrative block for the GFA. A structure you can compare to none in the sub-region. In the same year, we have succeeded in securing an artificial turf sponsored by FIFA.

When we talk about developing football, infrastructure is very important and I am happy that we have paid a particular attention to this by securing artificial turf and an administrative house.

There are many other achievements one can talk about. The Zonal Competition has, this year, taken a different dimension. People have heeded to the call and I am happy that the President has come out to personally sponsor the tournament named after his son- Baby Muhammed Yahya Jammeh. I can tell you that today people are convinced that Gambia football has changed for the better.

When you came to office three years back, you tasked yourself with an 11-point development programme for the four-year term. So far which of these points have been achieved.?

I can tell you outright that almost all the points have been achieved, even though along the line we experienced some hitches. It is just a matter of strengthening them in the coming year.

2008 was a busy year in Gambian football calendar where we saw three National teams partake in various continental qualifiers. What did you make up of the performances of the Gambian teams?

The performances of the Gambia teams have been impressive.  If you recall, we beat our group leaders Algeria here in Banjul and they beat us in Algeria. And we all know what happened in Algiers leading to the defeat. With Senegal, we have seen how our two matches ended.

We were just unlucky not to have won but the opportunities were there.
In a nutshell I believe all the teams did extremely well. It was just because of the crazy rule from the CAF that eliminated us from the competition but otherwise the performances have been impressive.

Also we fell out in the U-20, even though we could have won the match here to qualify. But football is all about taking on your chances and I think the boys themselves will learn from the lesson.

I can say that Ghana is not a formidable side that can eliminate us. But the boys took things for granted and we were made to pay for the price.

So you are surprise that the Under 20 team did not qualify ?

Certainly yes. The way they played in the first league, we were of the hope that they would beat Ghana in the return leg to qualify. I can tell you that hopes were high. But like I said, sometimes when you take things for granted you are made to pay for the price.

The Gambia Under 20 are a formidable team that have been together for long and they were given all the support they needed.

Are you satisfied that only one out of the three teams have qualified?

Yes I am satisfied that the U-17 have qualified against other countries where no team qualify at all. It is a great achievement for us. I want to put on record that not only one team qualify, even the senior team have qualified too. Look at a rule where a team qualify with 8 points at the detriment of a team with 9 points. So I want to say that even the senior team have qualified. It’s the crazy rule that kicked us out but we believe that the team did wonders and deserved that qualification.

The Gambia will play in CAF Under 17 finals in Algeria early next year, March 2008, to be precise. How far have you gone to ensure that The Gambia does not come out as one of the black horses in the Algeria race?

Going by the records, we have done quiet well in youth category. If you can recall, the last time we were the champions here in Banjul and the same team went to Peru and did wonders. The U-20 were bronze medalists in Congo in 2007. So the performance of the Gambia youth teams over the years have been impressive. All I can tell you is that we will put all hands on deck and give the team the necessary support in terms of match bonuses so that when they are in Algeria, they would play with pride and raise the Gambia flag high again.

This tournament comes in the next three months, are you foreseeing any financial constraints?

Financial constraints have ever been an issue in Gambian football. The GFA and government cannot do it alone. We need the support of the private sector. Government has other priorities, though I am not saying sports is not a priority.  I would urge the private sector to come on board and support the team because whatever they invest on the team will be a worthy investment for Gambia since these are young players who are going to defend the nation in an international stage.

Though The Gambia Under 17 team have qualified, many still stress that the team’s technical bench needs a beef up. Don’t you agree with them?

I may not agree with them because I don’t know what they meant by that. All I know is we have qualified technicians handling the team. If you could recall, the head coach of the team- Tarik, was the one who won the peace cup in Ivory Coast. He started the qualifying round with the team coming up to this stage. So I will not agree that we have a problem on technical bench.

What did you make up of Gambia’s participation in just concluded WAFU competition held in Nigeria?

Oh! It was a total disappointment. I said this because the team we sent were a team that have been together for long. Because they have been together for long and have had a competition, we decided to send them but the results were very disappointing.

Who would you blame for Gambia’s poor display in the WAFU  tournament?

Certainly for now I don’t want to say anything as yet, but I know there was a head of delegation - the second vice-president and we are yet to get the report from him and the head coach. If we get these two reports, then we will know what went wrong. We don’t want to rely on a hear say that the players refuse to play because they want to come home. It’s good for us to listen to those we sent with the team.

When do you expect this report, and should there be any negativity, would you take any action?

Certainly once the reports are given, the recommendations would be made and we’ll go by the recommendations. All I know is whatever decision we take is going to be in the interest of Gambian football. The last time we took a decision against some senior team players, and we did it for the interest of Gambian football and it paid us a result. So whatever decision we are going to make will be in the interest of Gambian football and not necessary against any individual.

Some of my colleague journalists mostly complain that they sometimes find it difficult to access information at the GFA secretariat due to unavailability of a press officer. What is  stopping the GFA from not only appointing a press officer but also fill other vacant positions like administrative secretary  and assistant secretary general?

In that regard I will tell you that everything is being processed to a point where a Press Officer, Administrative Secretary and a full time Technical Director are in place. Office was a problem for the GFA. Where we are lodge at the Independence Stadium is let out to us and with a limited office space.

I being the first vice-president don’t even have an office, which is not normal. That is why we have developed infrastructure. If you visit the new building, offices have been created for all these departments and a lot other departments have been earmarked for Gambian football.

When do you intend to move to this new centre and stop being tenants of the Independence Stadium?

I can tell you very soon. We were working on getting certain things in place - furniture, electricity,  telephone and so on.  But I can tell you almost all the necessary appliances have been fixed, so any moment from now we’ll move to the new head office.

Where is Scorpions coach Paul and how far have you gone to tie him to a new deal?

Paul Put is in Belgium to see his family. Coming to how far we have gone, I can tell you that we are happy with his performance and as a result the President has made a pronouncement that we would retain him. That has gone well within the GFA. As you may know his first contract has not even expired yet, notwithstanding we are coming up with a new contract and negotiation is in progress.

Paul Put is the head coach of the Scorpions who would not be involved in any major competition until 2011, so if you keep Paul Put how are you going to ensure that he’s not paid for nothing?

The terms of reference of his contract will be flexible in such that the GFA can redeploy him.  We can  assign him to any other team like we did during the U-17, where we assigned him to join hands with coach Tarik.

The senior team, like you said, will not be in active football for a while, but let me put on record that the senior team would not be abandoned. Come 2009, we are going to use the FIFA calendar to arrange international friendlies. And this will also keep the coach busy and of course he can also help in developing other coaches. So we have so many assignments, that we can give him as far as he is concerned.

Any final word to the Gambian football lovers?

I would take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President and Commander in Chief of the Gambia Armed Forces, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, for his untiring support to Gambian football and to the GFA in particular. H.E has alaways been there whenever things are hard for us.

I will also thank the department of state for Youth and Sports for their collaboration and support to the GFA. To the public, I want to say that their support has been very meaningful and it has really boosted our morale. To the members of the press I would say a big thank you.

Our major sponsors also need to be commended. I have to mention some of them like Africell who has been there for us. Sea view Garden, Paradise Suites, Gambia Civil Aviation, Social Security & Housing Finance Corporation, GPA, Independence Stadium.
These are among others who have supported us all the way.

Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to grant me this interview and I wish you a Happy Year 2009!

Thank you Nanama and I wish you the same.