The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Babucarr Camara
11 July 2011
A slightly overcast and wet Saturday afternoon on July 2nd saw a large number of the deaf and hard of hearing community turn out in force to watch the clash of the GDSA (Gambia Deaf Sports Association) football teams from KMC and Brikama in a fundraising game played at the KG5 mini-stadium in Banjul. The game was kindly supported by the Banjul Breweries Company Limited.
The spectators were not disappointed though as both teams played well and it was an exciting game that saw five goals, four of which went to the Kanifing Municipality team as they secured a convincing 4-1 victory over their Brikama opponents. The event was not only a good day out for both players and spectators, but served a more serious purpose too. It helped raise money to support the Gambia Federation of the Disabled, the umbrella advocacy body working on behalf of people with disabilities in The Gambia, and it also raised awareness of the skills of people with disabilities, this time in the sporting arena.
As one of the onlookers commented ‘these players are just as good at football as anyone else, it’s impressive to see how they communicate and manage to work together as a team without being able to hear fully’, and hopefully that was the understanding that many of the Banjulians and supporters took away with them. It was a positive event, and demonstrated once again that having a disability doesn’t mean that you have to limit your abilities.
Lamin Ceesay, the President of the Gambia Deaf Sports Association, GDSA, explained ‘generally, everything about deaf football is the same as football for hearing people. “The only difference is that, as well as the referee having a whistle, which the hard of hearing people can hear, he also needs to have a flag to give a visual signal to the players. As soon as there is a foul, the referee has to quickly wave the flag to alert the players to stop play. In the event of a foul, the referee needs to be smart and quick to act, otherwise play continues and a goal might be scored.”
The referee on the day was Momodou Sanyang. Ousman Sainey coached the Brikama team while his counterpart on the other bench for the team from the KMC team was Alhaji Jarju. Ebou Faye the Secretary General of the Banjul Sports Association congratulated the players on their participation, and he and his colleagues awarded 3 sports kits as prizes to the Best Player: Abdoulie Njie, Best Midfielder: Bakary Mendy and Best Defender: Sang Bass.
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