Encouraging trends in Gambian football

Nothing is more reassuring than to be far away from home and hear good news about your country, you tend to jump to the sky, take the next available flight; come back and join the wild celebrations in the streets of Tabokotto or Fagikunda but unfortunately that’s an illusion.

News that the Gambia under 17 team trounced Algeria on Thursday evening made me once more proud of The Gambia. Though thousands of kilometers away from the action, advances in technology made it easier for many people to stay in touch with what was unfolding in Algiers, but for me it was more than just face book, twitter, or yahoo messenger. The fact I could not watch any of their games on television made me jittery, my colleague Baboucarr Senghore on the other side sent me text messages about what was unfolding at the stadium, they boys were determined and judging by the deafening sound of the crowd I did not know how Babs and I managed to talk on the phone. ‘The Gambia has scored two goals with twenty minutes gone in the first half....’ Yea, I shouted to Pierre Sylva who was also eagerly waiting for me to share with him the news update from my exchange with Baboucarr Senghore in Algiers.

Throughout the night, my mind hovered on the scenes that took place at the Independence Stadium in Bakau when The Gambia sent Ghana packing and went ahead to lift the first ever Africa Under 17 championship trophy almost four years ago. May 2005 also brought to mind how a nation can be galvanized by sports, to be more precise football; on that memorable evening I saw young boys and girls chanting ‘Cha Kanam’Cha Kanam meaning ‘Forward Gambia.’.

On the same evening, from my vantage position, I saw President Jammeh entered the stadium shortly before the match and suddenly like a volcano the whole stadium erupted, shouting ‘Jammeh, Jammeh, Jammeh. And the man himself, waving before thousands of spectators who were glued to their seats had to turn three times with his motorcade before he finally took his seat. On that day, there was nothing like APRC, UDP, NADD or NRP colors; it was The Gambian flag that was flying and the spectators some of whom traveled as far as Basse and Koina joined their country men in the celebrations.

Flashback: The opening game in 2005 in which The Gambia beat Burkina Faso