Real de Banjul Coach Ebou Jarra has spoken for the first time of how the Club and its players will be benefiting from the Live Your Dreams Sports Academy complex in Basori as well as how his new players are adapting to their new surroundings and the quality in his squad.

During the interview, Jarra also speaks on the support the City Boys continue to enjoy in Basori and its sister communities in Kombo East, one of the nine districts of the Gambia’s West Coast Region.

Jarra and his charges began the 2021 season with a 2-1 victory over Tallinding United at the new Live Your Dreams Sports Academy, which is home to Real De Banjul.

Enjoy below the interview with the Real gaffer:

On how Real is benefiting from its new home…
“We are grateful to the management of Real de Banjul for trying their best to create such a facility of this nature. We are benefiting a lot from it (LYDSA)! It was trouble last season because we struggled a lot to get facilities to train but with this, the players have already settled down quickly and we don’t get to encounter those problems again”.

On his team’s start to the new season and new players settling in…
“It has been quite a number of years since Real de Banjul won their first league game but it was joy to watch the players and it was fun to have the results on our side against Tallinding United.
The new players are settling in well, if you look at Foday Darboe from Marimo and Bai Sonko from the Gambia Armed Forces, they’ve already settled in quickly. We gave a debut to Yahya Sanneh whom we picked from the tour, he trained with us for roughly for a week and he was ready to play in the second half against Tallinding United.”

On the quality of the squad…
“I can’t complain as I have been supported by the board and there is no player that I pointed out that I want and they did not try to get me, in that context I have to be grateful and thank the board for their support. We have Baboucarr Jallow who, we got from Gamtel and who is on the mend and Essa Jallow who is also on the mend and hasn’t kicked a ball yet, so the squad is very competitive!”

On how to keep his big squad happy…
“It is difficult, sometimes you’ve to be soft but other times, you’ve to be a little bit harsh. It’s going to be a very long and tough season and the boys know that so everyone is patiently waiting to be called upon to the starting eleven or squad. For me, one broom sweeps all; if you do good, then good follows you and that’s the only thing that will keep all of us happy.”

On the support Real de Banjul receives from Basori and the neighboring communities…
“I am grateful to everyone, the fans and people around Basori and Kombo East in
general, they turned out in their numbers, cheered the boys and they created a fan base for us. That shows you the level of support we receive from this end. We are now a part of Basori, this is our home and so we cannot separate ourselves from them. Since we started training here, we’ve invited Kombo East District team, Basori, Kombo Central II, this belongs to all of us and to the Gambia at large!
We’ve Babucarr Jallow alias Pogba, who’s from Giboro, we have other players who are from Brikama and these surroundings and it means a lot to Real de Banjul to have a lot of talents from this area to work with.”

Coach Jarra saw his chance of winning the league in his first season with the City Boys robbed from him, after the Gambia Football Federation declared last season’s league campaign null and void, after the Whites continued to top the standings into the second round, due to the outbreak of corona.

Ending the interview, Jarra took time to remember the late Gambia football legend Alhagie Momodou “Biri Biri” Njie, sending his condolences to his family as well as extending condolences to the families of the Late Papa Sarr Corr and Lamin Jagne, son of former Real de Banjul player Saul Jagne.