By KABS KANU
I started following the Sierra Leone national football team in the late 50s as a growing boy in Freetown .
I remember our next door neighbor Pa Pratt —after whom the street was probably named —was the only person that owned a radio at Pratt Lane where I was born . When there was an international match , we used to fill his parlor( kids on the street and some adults ) to listen to radio commentaries . It was the days of players like Steven Bio, Sylvanus Morris , Edward Akar, Boye Johnson, Weah Sawyer, Amadu Okroh Kamara, Nyafoh George, Ormassa Kamara, Goalkeeper M. Turay , Tommy Rowe , Gbatieh Davies etc etc . As kids we thought we had the best team , going by these famous-sounding names . Czechoslovakia came and we drew 1-1.
I remember one match in which we thrashed Liberia 5-1 in 1958, I believe .I remember Ghana beating us 6-2 in the West Africa Gold Cup final and I remember that teams like Liberia and The Gambia always lost to us . We used to beat Guinea in Freetown and they will defeat us in Conakry . But we never won a trophy and the team was always told, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.
In the 1960s, I started watching the games . I remember the last minute penalty awarded Sierra Leone in 1966 in the first leg of the West Africa Gold Cup as we trailed Liberia 0-1 . Kabineh Kabbah took it and scored . 1-1. They beat us 2-0 in the return leg, though the match ended in big chaos . We never won a trophy but the team was always told , BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME.
What I just want to say is that some of us have watched Sierra Leone for long . It has always been the same story —Better luck, next time . We have waited for too long for this better luck . I am almost 70 years now and but for 2 West Africa Zone 2 cups in the mid 1990s , I have not seen this Better Luck .
It took Leone Stars 26 years to qualify for the Africa Nations Cup . If at almost 70, I am being told Better Luck next time when it takes Leone Stars so long to qualify , you can understand why I feel gutted that we did not enjoy this better luck this time ( 2022), when we came so close and missed history because one of our players could not score a penalty kick.
When again will Leone Stars qualify for the Africa Nations Cup , whip up such passions as we saw these past weeks and give us hope, and how old will I be then ?
THE JUBILATION ACCOMPANYING LEONE STARS’ EXPLOITS IN CAMEROON BEFORE THEY WERE ELIMINATED
