Monrovia- Today Nimba County Sports Steering Committee responded to the ministry of Youths and Sports press conference.

Here is the Nimba county sports Steering committee release below:

January 29, 2020

The Nimba County Sports Steering Committee appreciates son and daughters of Nimba, stakeholders, supporters as well as sympathizers for the overwhelming support the county team received during this year’s county meet.

Your financial and moral support aided the committee to work tirelessly to ensure that victory was always secured.

We also appreciate the County authority for entrusting the sports steering committee into the hands of young people who could properly manage it and live up to the expectation of the people of Nimba .

Additionally, we want to laud the chief patron of sports of Nimba Mr. Floyd Seh Tomah Sr for playing an advisory role and continuously supporting the team.

Your role played inspired and motivated the players who fabulously performed according to the task for which they were hired.

We appreciate the Ministry of Youth and Sports for unprecedentedly selecting a county (Grand Kru) as winner for the football tournament of the National County Sports Meet.

We congratulate Grand Kru County for their selection as well and hope that the county will be selected again in future county meets.

Consequently, the committee’s attention is drawn to a Tuesday, January 28 press conference by the Ministries of Youth and Sports and Internal Affairs in which they levied weighty, unsubstantiatedaccusations against our sports committee and the people of Nimba County.

During the press conference , the Minister of Youth and Sports announced illegally, the suspension of both our team coach and manager for two years each from all sporting activities though, neither the Ministry of Youth and Sports nor the Ministry of Internal Affairs have no such authority to unilaterally suspend a coach on such frivolous claims.

The Ministry also fined Nimba County a sum of $1,500.00USD for reasons that are yet to be made clear.

The Minister also with no respect for the people of Nimba when ahead to describe sons and daughters of our county who were entrusted with the County Steering Committee as hooligans, a description we strongly reject.

It is unfortunate that the organizers of the County Sports Meet will decide to vilify our athletes who performed to the best of their abilities in the National County Sports Meet.

Many of the players in the County Sport Meet are not full bright professionals and may not even understand the full rules of the game as such, maturity requires that you treat them at different lenses.

Moreover, the players declined continuation of the game and departed the playing pitch in the grand final for fear of their lives after they saw the outpouring of angry supporters on the main pitch, something which was not put under control by the organizers of the tournament .

We believe the organizers of the National County Sports Meet contributed to the disruption of the final especially, when they failed to pick their very best to referee the crucial match.

County Meet is not a normal FIFA approved game which is played to the full weight of the laws of the game.

The Organizers (Ministries of Youth & Sports and Internal Affairs) didn’t take in consideration the fact that the tournament comes with political relevance, national relevance, tribal supremacy and regional dominance and not an ordinary community game.

Moreover, the Steering Committee didn’t contribute to the players leaving the field as alleged by the organizers. Most officials of the County and Steering Committee members were seated at VIP and around VIP with no easy access to the pitch to immediately get the situation under control as the field itself was jammed packed to capacity.

The coach was even shocked to see the wave of supporters trooping into the playing pitch from the stadium after the referee declared an unfair second penalty.

There was no security measure put into place to curtail the over crowdedness of the field. The Police and other state securities were more focus on watching the action then putting it under control.

We must confront the organizers for poorly managing the safety of our players and technical staff as well as the game.

In parts of Africa, around the pitch in meant for Journalists and Security but ours was a designated space for concubines, officials of government, friends of our friends and superintendents for mere showmanship .

If the organizers had controlled the parameters, leaders from Nimba would have had the opportunity to remedy the situation before it escalated, but again , we saw how poorly the stadium was managed .

The committee calls on those who intend to score political points from the just ended disruption of the County Meet final to desist as their action is not in the best interest of our county and its people.

Additionally, without even ascertaining the facts that led to the players’ walkout, the Ministry issued a verdict after it refused to launch an investigation or call the Steering Committee for hearing. The Organizers didn’t give Nimba County due process. Due process of law is not a privilege but a right that should be generally respected.

Furthermore, we state that the organizers’ suspension the coach of Nimba County is a decision which runs contrary from the County’s Meet regulation LE XIX 19.1 section 16.5 which states that “any county player, coach or official of a county obstructing, delaying or compelling a game to come to a halt shall be fined the amount of Two Hundred United States Dollars for first offense and Five Hundred United States Dollars for second offense”.

Ignorantly, the organizers took the action without going through the regulation properly.

The organizers also suspended our two team executives from all coaching activities after a question was asked by a Journalist.

We want to say that our coach and manager have every right to participate in the Liberia Football Association League. The Organizer of the County Meet has absolutely no right or authority to suspend them from LFA league on grounds that the LFA league is not under the jurisdiction of MYS but the world governing body of football, FIFA.

We called on the Liberia Football Association to officially make a statement on the suspension of our coach and team manager on grounds that the Minister of Youth and Sports said the Ministry’s decision to suspend our two officials was done in consultation with the Liberia Football Association.

During the final, we were victims of hooliganisms. The Grand Kru supporters throw missiles at our players from the pitch to the tunnel.

The biased judgment based on emotion sentiments by the organizers of the County’s meet must be immediately reversed.

This is not the first time for referee hired by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to poorly manage a game against Nimba , thereby resulting to protestation by our players .

It can be recalled that during last year quarters final of the National County Sports Meet , during the Nimba and Margibi game, after the full ninety minutes of played, the referee refused to call for an extra thirty minute which is a globally accepted principle .

We believe that the organizers undermined the real essence of the County Meet and as such they should accept every action and inaction that occurred during the grand final.

Moving forward, the County Sports Steering Committee recommends to the County Authority that the following actions be taken:

a. That Nimba withdraw from the County Sports Meet for the period five years and money allocated for such event be diverted to education ;

b. That the county should reject paying a cent to the organizers of the County Sports Meet until the county is given due process ;

c. That the county takes legal action against the organizers for suspending its coach and team manager without following regulation of the county sports meet;

d. That the Minister of Youth and Sports within forty eight hours publicly apologizes for describing Nimibaians as “hooligans” or risk being prevented from entering Nimba;

e. That the County focuses on investing more on its districts league that will unite Nimbaians ;

f. That the County prevent all Liberia Football Association games from playing in Nimba until the LFA can come up with a definited position statement distancing itself from the suspension of our Coach and team Manager;

In Conclusion , we call on every Nimbaian to boycott all sports activities organize by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in every part of the country to avoid being describe as “hooligans”. The release concluded.