New venue for Real date ESS meeting

By Sulayman Bah A new venue has been named for Real de Banjul’s clash with African champions Setif. Banjul mini-stadium was first announced as ground to host the would-be thrilling clash before talks amongst stakeholders resulted to a new venue.The negotiation settled that Brikama’s Boxbar host the CAF match billed for this Saturday. What requirements were being looked at prompting the new move is not disclosed by Real de Banjul in its announcement of the change. Two legs of the preliminary round qualifier against Liberia’s Barrack Young Controllers played at the Banjul mini-stadium witnessed a paltry fan turnout. BrikamaBoxbar –one of the country’s few standard artificial turfs – is known to court a large supporter turnout especially Caf championship games generating revenue via ticket sales. In a statement issued in the wake of the changes, the club said : ‘The match will be officiated by Mauritian FIFA referee Ali Lemghaifry and he will be assisted by his fellow countrymen HamedineDiba and BoubouCheikhnaDemba and Mohamed Hamada as fourth official. The game will be commissioned by Salaha Baby from Mali. Tickets for the game are pegged at D250 for VIP, D50 for sitting, and D25 for the stands while school children in uniform or with student ID Cards would be allowed FREE ENTRY.’ RDB who are Gambia’s domestic league champions breezed into the first round of the qualifiers since 2001 after shrugging off challenge from Liberian side Barrack Young Controllers on a 2-1 aggregate. RDB were technically away despite the game being played at the BJL turf following CAF’s suggestion for the fixture to be staged in Gambia as a neutral venue on the back of Mali’s refusal to host it in Bamako. Saturday’s opponent and cash-stabled Setif, were yesterday taking on JSK Kabily in a cup match fixture, a thing which allows the Algerian team three-day rest ahead of their match in Banjul.]]>