GFF Media Officer to Join Scorpions in Ghana Today

The Gambia Football Federation says it will dispatch its Publicity and Marketing Officer Bakary B. Baldeh to be embedded with the Scorpions in Ghana and Benin for their training camp and eventual AfCON Qualifier slated for Sunday 11th June in Cotonou.

B.B. is schedule to depart Banjul today, Wednesday 7th June and is assigned to put up a comprehensive coverage of the Scorpions' training camp in Accra on behalf of the sports journalists' fraternity in The Gambia for the benefit of the general public. Mr. B.B. Baldeh will also be with the team in Benin for match updates as the Scorpions play the Squirrels at the Mathew Keriko Stadium in Cotonou.

The decision by The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) to exclude the media officer in the National Football Team's initial delegation list was received with total disapproval by unhappy sports journalists in the country who took to the social media to express their dissatisfaction.

Arguably, The Gambia is the only country in the world where the national football teams would sometime travel without neither its media officer nor a member of the sport journalists.

Even though the young men and women in the sports journalism fraternity are described as critical partners in football development, The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) has continued to exclude the media any time the national teams travels.

Sport journalists have been complaining bitterly at the way the GFF sees the media when it comes to international competitions. Many a times, journalists do rely on delegation officials for updates, while some journalists rely on footballers for updates.

Both CAF and FIFA attach great importance to the media and that it is why media officers are appointed across all Football Federations around the world.

It sparked debate on social media with journalists from across different media houses expressing their disappointment with the Football Federation.

U.S.-based editor of Gambia Sports Online, Abdoulie Bah reacted: "Nothing personal or malicious here. The FF's media department is as vital as the medical, logistics or technical aspects in any serious football federation. You are all okay with 1.8 million Dollars or so people staying in the dark while their national team plays a major game like a nation's cup qualifier? Like whom are you representing in the first place? Not clubs, not regional associations, this is Gambian people first folks. They deserve first hand news."

Sports Journalist Sang Wisdom Mendy added, "They are not fair to the public. Let them just dig their own grave. If GNOC and GFF swimming in money (Dollars) can travel without someone to feed the nation then we are hiding something."

"We said The Gambia has decided but the Football Federation is still yet to decide. How can you travel without a media officer who should be in charge of feeding the public with information regarding the team? When will Kabba Bajo and team know the importance of a media officer to a football team talk less of a whole Senior National?" queried Baboucarr Sey of Paradise FM.

West Coast Radio's Hagie Drammeh opined, "The GFF only deals with people in their good books. Numukunda Kanyi has a vote and BB Baldeh doesn't have. Sad for Gambian football."

Alieu Ceesay, the Secretary General of the Sports Journalists' Association of The Gambia (SJAG) said, the association had written to the Football Federation on the need for the sport journalists to be catered for any time the teams' travel. However, Ceesay said, they are still awaiting the official response from the Football House. "The SJAG has been pursuing this since the last Qualifiers and we hope the GFF will consider this proposal as it is important for the public to be aware of what is going when the team is away. Sports journalist travelling with the team from SJAG should not in any way prevent the media officer from traveling with the delegation."

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