Real expresses pride as former players dominate Scorpions’ AFCON squad
BY: Media Officer Foday Jatta
The management of Real de Banjul Football Club have expressed pride in seeing ten of the Club’s former players listed in the Gambia’s squad heading to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.
Former players in goalkeeper Alagie Modou Jobe; defenders Omar Colley, Bubacarr Sanneh, James Gomez and forwards Ablie Jallow, Lamin Jallow, Dembo Darboe, Bubacarr Trawally, Yusupha Njie and Muhammed Badamosi will all travel to Cameroon in January for the AFCON in what will be the country’s maiden participation in the tournament.
“I am not surprised that ten of our former players have been selected for AFCON duties with the national team because if you look at all our former players playing abroad, you will know that ten or more (ex-Real De Banjul) players can be selected,” Club President, William Abraham said.
The present and former players of the Club have been mainstays in various national teams of the country for many years but having ten out of the twenty-eight players heading for Africa’s top football showpiece, an outing which will be the country’s first, is a testament to the standards the Club sets and continues to produce.
President Abraham said: “I’m proud of the number of our former players that have been included in the national team. This shows that we are working hard because if you look at the players we export every year to Europe, it’s quite a good number. If you look at FIFA’s latest report about clubs in Africa being the best in terms of player transfers, Real de Banjul is among the best club and top team from the Gambia in terms of player sales and that work is what is showing now in the national team.”
“If you look at all the national team categories, we have our players there; look at the last U20, we had a good number of players there. Having that number of players (10) in the senior national team, confirms the good job we’ve been doing!”
The Club’s 2nd Vice President, Bakary K. Jammeh, was also proud of such record-breaking achievement and for him, this goes on to show that the efforts, they as a Management of the Club, is now paying off.
“It’s an incredible feeling and a great moment of proudness and gratitude to everybody that is associated with this great Club which got a rich history. To see this happen, it’s a combination of a number of things; one is, effort and another thing is perseverance. The history of this club is not that of just participating in sports but that of national development. This is what our founding fathers have started and this is what we continue to build on,” Jammeh added.
“It’s always our vision to ensure that every single Real de Banjul player has two opportunities which is to represent your country at the highest level and also to turn professional so that your life can change for the better and that of your family and by extension, contribution to the socio-economic development of The Gambia.”
Our 2nd VP added that: “Since we got ourselves associated with this club, every day we are on the lookout to turn our boys professional. From Pa Dembo Touray, Musa Bajaha, Ebou Sillah, all the way to the current ones like Steve (Bubacarr Trawally), Bubacarr Sanneh, Omar Colley and all the rest of the players heading to Cameroon.”
For the club legend and current coach, Bye Malleh Wadda, it’s a normal routine to have a good number of our former stars representing the scorpions.
“This is nothing new, I remember Gambia Eleven composed of 10 Real de Banjul players where only one player of the starting eleven was not a Real de Banjul player. So, for me, this is expected and it makes me feel good and proud. Traditionally Real de Banjul has had a lot of players play for the national teams.”
Wadda added: “I was expecting that maybe there would be more, so I wasn’t surprised that this number of players are considered for the national team especially for the AFCON. This achievement only shows that we have always been at the forefront of Gambian football and the club has been producing very good players.”
“Real has been moving more players than any other club in the Gambia for the past ten years so, it’s not a surprise to see 10 of our former players selected. Part of our plans is we definitely are continuing to work towards exporting as many players as possible. We want to impact on the lives of people so, it’s basically a project for the club to move players and we will continue to do just that.”
Everyone at the Club will like to wish Omar Colley, Alagie Modou Jobe, Bubacarr Sanneh, James Gomez, Ablie Jallow, Lamin Jallow, Dembo Darboe, Bubacarr Trawally, Yusupha Njie and Muhammed Badamosi all the best of luck at the Africa Cup of Nations and we send our best wishes to the Scorpions for a successful tournament in Cameroon.