By Momodou Jarju
This Saturday The Gambia’s Independence Stadium will host an international match for the first time in little over three years. The continent’s football governing body CAF lifted the ban it meted out to the country’s stadium in 2022 due to lowered standards required for match hosting. CAF granted temporary approval for two home games to be played at the Independence Stadium—a move stakeholders believe is a trail which they ought to cruise through.
The people tasked to accomplish this feat are the Events Management Committee (EMC) of the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) who over the weekend engaged the press regarding the upcoming game between The Gambia and Algeria in the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship CHAN play-offs. The match will kick off at 3pm.
The chairman of the EMC William Abraham informed the press that the new capacity of the stadium has shrunk from 20 thousand to under 15 thousand seats (14, 219).
“In the past, we sold 20,000 tickets. But people came into the stadium without a ticket. Pavilions were overcrowded, which was beyond our control. We could not control it. But now we cannot have that kind of overcrowding. CAF are watching us very closely. And we are not sure yet, but CAF might send a security personnel to come and assess us and give a report,” he said.
Abraham said they wouldn’t joke with the guidelines provided to them by CAF by ensuring that everyone is seated at the game while giving a breakdown of the different pavilions at the refurbished stadium. He said the VVIP, which is not for sale, is meant for the Ministry, the Federation, the invited guests, and also the Algerian delegation arriving. The VIP pavilion has 343 seats which used to host three times more than the current figure. And the media has 50 seats allocated for them with internet connectivity and sockets to plug their gadgets.
Pavilions named after venerated Gambians
The new look stadium has each pavilion named after venerated people who “have contributed a lot in the development of Gambian football.”The covered pavilion has two sections: one is named Alhagie Momodou Njie (Biri Biri) Pavilionwith 1492 seats and the other is named Alhagie Ousman O.B Conateh Pavilion with 1668 seats. Biri Biri is regarded as the best Gambian player of all time who played at Spanish La Liga side FC Sevilla, while O.B Conateh was a venerated football administrator who co-founded Wallidan FC and former president of GFF formerly GFA.
The scoreboard is named George Gomez Pavilion with 2765 seats, while the opposite scoreboard is named Alhagie Omar Sey Pavilion with 2598 seats. Gomez was a veteran sports administrator and former Executive Director of The Gambia National Olympic Committee, while Sey was a Gambian football administrator and diplomat. The opposite covered stand which is the biggest is named Alhagie Housainou Njai Pavilion with 5,246 seats. The late Njai co-founded Hawks FC and he was reported to have sponsored national teams in the past.
The Ticket Prices
The EMC announced the ticket prices for the game at the presser as follows: VIP D5000, covered pavilions D1000, opposite covered pavilion D700, and both scoreboard and opposite scoreboard D500. A day later, the EMC made some changes to the ticket prices after the backlash from the public who lamented that the pricing is expensive. The committee through the GFF Media made the following changes: VIP D5000, covered pavilions D700, opposite covered D500, and both scoreboard and opposite scoreboard D300.
The football federation said the prices were reviewed after reflection on the appeal made by the members of the public. The EMC chairman said no tickets will be sold at the stadium on Saturday which is one of the guidelines from CAF. As such, he urged Gambians to grab their tickets as soon as possible when the sale starts this week.
When asked the reason for the high pricing, Abraham replied that the low capacity of the stadium is one of the reasons. The EMC vice chairman Sulayman Sowe said to maintain the quality of the stadium, prices ought to increase.
“It’s a new stadium and it’s expensive. And everybody knows how much money has been pumped into the new stadium by the government. So we need to find a way to start recovering. And give standard practices. And one of them is actually the prices have to go up,” he said while adding that the tickets will be colour-coded, numbered and there will be different colour codes in each pavilion.
“This is a historic moment for all of us, as we know that it’s a trial for us, and we are all being tested now. So I think the media is a critical partner in the success of our two upcoming games, by helping to sensitise and also positive criticism, and also helping implement what CAF would want to see us deliver as a committee and by [extension] the GFF.”
Word for the spectators
Spectators will also be forbidden to bring along bottles, bags, weapons etc. into the stadium as well as vehicles. Abraham said these are some of the “things can bring us a lot of problems”.
“Sometimes we see, if we don’t do well, spectators are throwing bottles. So, we cannot allow any bottles or weapons coming into the stadium. The other thing is we will have food and water and drinks sold at the stadium inside,” Abraham said.
“Sellers who are interested must apply to the EMC. We will not allow anybody to enter the stadium for whatever kind of food, whether it’s peanuts or whether it’s oranges, whatever it is.
“So we appeal to the general public. We are not saying we are not going to sell or allow anybody. We are saying you need to apply to the EMC for us to give you approval and also to give you a designated area where you can go and sit and sell whatever you want to sell after being inspected,” he said.
No bottles will be sold in the stadium too. The EMC chairman said these guidelines are provided to them for security measures by CAF whom he believes will be observing them to see whether they will do well or not.
“There will be a lot of security checkpoints before you arrive at the gate of the stadium. There will be about four security checkpoints…Because these are all things that CAF is putting their eyes on. They’re watching us,” he said.
Abraham also said they have engaged CAF to see whether they would be allowed to show the match on one of the TV stations in the country so that those who are unable to attend the game can watch it at home.
Security and safety issues
The security liaison officer for the GFF and also the CAF safety and security officer Colonel Musa Jammeh said they’ve conducted the risk assessment of Saturday’s match and concluded that it would be beyond a low-risk match in the sense that the stadium has not been used for a long time.
“The assessment also was based on the fact that there is a new protocol that is coming, that is a new way of doing things. So if people don’t really understand what is ahead, then we will face that challenge because we are now moving from one direction to a new direction,” he said.
The GFF national safety and security officer said they’ve also familiarised themselves with the operating environment and they’ll do a simulation to see how it will pan out on match day. Jammeh said there is a shift now in CAF in terms of match delivery as they move away from a combat posture safety delivery to a friendly one where there would be less uniform and combat-ready kind of forces around the stadium.
“As a result of that, we have identified about five elements that will be present on D-Day. The main effort will definitely be the paramilitary unit of the police force. We’ll have the general duties, we’ll have the steward wing and mobile traffic and possibly have a component of the Republican National Guards to reinforce the paramilitary in case of need. That is basically the security component. But of course, there are other areas where the fire and rescue services will also be involved,” he explained.
Colonel Jammeh said these are measures they believe will ensure they deliver the upcoming match in a safe and secure manner. He warned that they wouldn’t take it lightly with anyone who is found wanting with any ticket that has been manipulated.
