Gambia: Annex Win Maiden KMC Mayor’s Trophy

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Babucarr Camara

27 June 2011

The Maintenance Services (Annex) of the Kanifing Municipal Council won the finals of the first edition of the Mayor’s Trophy after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Licensing/Debt Department, at the Serekunda West mini-stadium on Friday.

The game had to end at spot kick after the two sides failed to break the deadlock. Annex goalkeeper Sarjo Jallow was the hero of the evening as he saved two penalties from Abdoulie Njie and Abou Camara. The KMC Mayor’s Trophy was organized by the council’s Staff Welfare Association and named after Mayor Yankuba Colley, who in turn dedicated the competition to the memory of the late Alhaji Badou Jassey, who passed away last month following a brief illness. Jassey was until his death a mechanical engineer at the Council and the president of the Gambia Referees Association.

The competition started with three teams of two groups. After the group stage, the Admin Department and Marketing Unit dropped out of the race whilst the Municipal Police, Annex, License/Debt and Charles Jaw advanced to the semifinals of the tournament. The race was finally down to two teams after Annex defeated the Municipal Police 1-0, while License/Debt Department,made light work of Charles Jaw to secure a 2-0 semi-final win and advanced to Friday’s finals.

The final was witnessed by several of the council’s staff. Also in attendance was the deputy mayor of KMC,Yusupha Sanyang; and the public relations officer, Pa Kalifa Sanyang amongst other senior managers. Both sides had numerous opportunities to open the scores in the first period but failed to take advantage of any with Ousman Jallow missing two great scoring opportunities. On the other end, Gidom Jawo completely missed an opportunity to give License/Debt the lead.

The second half got off to the same pace with a lot of entertainment from both teams with Ousman Jallow again guilty of another missing chance before Pa Njie got sent-off for Annex in the closing stage, following a reckless tackle on Majou Bah. However, it was already too late for Licensing/Debt to take advantage of their numerical superiority. As winners, Annex went home with a giant trophy and a cash prize of D5,000 while Licensing/Debt Department went home with a consolation prize of D 3,000.

Speaking to the Observer Sports after the game, Yusupha Sanyang, the deputy mayor of KMC expressed delight at the the level of entertainment shown by both teams and vowed to produce a team for the Council that will represent them at the country’s third division qualifiers. Deputy Mayor Sanyang also urged the staff of the Council to emulate the late Badou Jassey, who he said served the Council for many years with dedication, efficiency and effectiveness.

The first son of Alhaji Badou Jassey, Ebrima Jassey, thanked the Council for organising a football tournament in memory of his father, whom he said was a very good father; that his death left a big vacuum in the annals of not only football but Gambian sports in general. The chairperson of the tournament, Yankuba Sawaneh thanked Cham and associates, Banjul Breweries and Gambega, and acknowledged that without their timely intervention the tournament wouldn’t have kicked off at the first place.

Sawaneh also thanked the staff of the Council for their benevolent gesture which he said had gone a long way in helping the KMC Staff Welfare Association achieve one of its main goals i.e. fostering closer collaboration and unity amongst the staff of the Council. “Let me hasten to add that the tournament has also helped our sub-committee on sports to fish out very good players for the KMC team. I hope those selected will honour the invitation as and when the need arises, as plans are underway to stage matches for the KMC teams in preparation of future tournaments,” Sawaneh added.

Pa Sulayman Jassey, another son of the late Badou Jassey made the kick-off.

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