The Gambian Banker

By: Ebrima Kolley

Faraba Banta United on Sunday 24^th April   beat Mandinaba united to a one goal to nil. The two sides locked horn at Kuloro football field, at 5:00pm.

Faraba Banta started the game putting pressure on the Mandinaba boys. In the 6^th minute of first half striker Yaya Jatta was on target as he opened the score line for Faraba through a cross from Ansu Colley at the right hand of the field.

By Ebrima Kolley

The late Honorable Kebba Touray Memorial Inter-village Football Tournament kicked-off on Sunday 17^th April 2011, at Faraba Banta football field. The tournament was organized by Kombo East District Sport Committee (KEDSC) and sponsored by the family of Late Hon.Kebba Touray in Pirang Village.

The tournament was expected to take place on Sunday, 10th April 2011 between Pirang and Omorto but the match was postponed due to the demise of the national Assemble member for Kombo East Constituency Hon.Lamin Bojang.

By Ebrima Kolley, Banjul

Faraba Banta youth and sport association on Sunday 13^th march benefited from football materials from KGH Sport Football Academy based in Lamin Village during their friendly test match with faraba united who are in the preparation towards the forthcoming kombo east district inter-village tournament which will kickoff in two weeks time.The match ended goalless.

The donated items included 28 pair of socks, 4 pair of gloves, 4 corner flags, football vest, tartic board, 3 footballs, set of training cones, 2 linesman flags, 2 set of bibs and 17 camping t-shirts.

By Ebrima Kolley, Banjul

Faraba Banta Youth and Sport Association held their 2010 nawettan season final on Sunday 26^th December 2010 at Faraba Banta Football field between Check Point F.C  and Aston Villa F.C  - for the first time both teams went to the finals. The match started at 5pm and the kick off was taken by Councilor Alagie Kujabi. In the first half of the match Check Point F.C. trumped Aston Villa F.C. by 3 goals to nil, scored in the 8^th,15^th and 22^nd minutes. The goals were scored by Musa Manneh, Dominic Demba  who is man of the match playing for Interior F.C. of GFA league and Nfansu Jallow. The match ended 3-0 in favor of Check point F.C .They went with a cash prize of D3,000 ,1^st place soccer medals and a trophy and the runners-up went with cash prize of D2,000 and 2^nd place soccer medals. The Sportsmanship medals were awarded  to the committee members .The various awards were presented by Alagie Momodou Bojang, Kebba Saidykhan, Ensa Sarr, Councilor Alagie Kujabi, and Lamin jally Daffeh.

The Point

Saint Augustine’s Senior Secondary School Basketball team have retained the second edition of the Trust Bank-sponsored Scholar Athletics for Change and the Gambia Secondary School Sports Association (GSSSA) Inter-senior Secondary Schools Basketball tournament

Saints beat SOS Senior Secondary School 31-28 at the Serrekunda West Mini-stadium Basketball Lawn Wednesday evening.

As champions, Saint Augustine’s were awarded a championship trophy and a cash prize of D10,000, whilst SOS Senior Secondary School went home with D6,000 as the runners up.

Armitage Senior Secondary School basketball side got D2,000 as the most disciplined team of the tournament.

The tightly contested final match was witnessed by high-profile dignitaries and spectators from Serrekunda West and its environs.

Martin Gomez, president of the Gambia Secondary School Sports Association, applauded Trust Bank for sponsoring the tournament.

The Point

The Gambia national U-17 team will begin the defence of their African U-17 championship title in Rwanda in 2011 after qualifying for the 9th Edition of the CAF youth tournament by beating Tunisia 1-nil in Banjul on Saturday.

The two times African champions at the U-17 level enjoyed a deserved 3-3 aggregate win to edge out their North African opponents thanks to two vital away goals scored by inspirational captain Buba Jallow in the first leg in Tunis a fortnight ago.

Demba Janneh's decisive strike with only five minutes on the clock in the Banjul encounter on Saturday was all but enough to send the Baby Scorpions to their third U-17 championship campaign.

After emerging as champions in Banjul in 2005, the famous Baby Scorpions re-wrote history by beating Algeria in Algiers in 2009 to record their second African U-17 title thanks to an impressive 3-1 win over the host.`

The Gambia’s U20 team and their supporters can now celebrate and prepare for the 2011 Libya African Youth Championship. The deal was sealed after Gambia beat Ivory Coast by 1 goal to nil. The lone goal, scored by Captain Saihou Gassama in a penalty shoot awarded to the young scorpions in the 43^rd minute of the game. The hope of the Ivorians was dashed as a result of a foul committed against Alasana Camara .

This positive development came at a time that some have questioned local coach Lamin Sarr’s ability to deliver for The Gambia. The win however, will no doubt build people’s confidence in the coach to produce successful results for the nation.

The confident Scorpions, in their strive to qualify for AFCON 2012 finals, decisively beat the visiting Namibian team in Banjul on Saturday, September 4, 2010. The Scorpions gave the Southern African nation a shocking experience by scoring all their three goals during the first half of the game. The first goal was scored by Sainey Nyassi, who headed home the cross by Aziz Nyang in the 10^th minute. Three minutes later, in the 13^th minute, Momodou Ceesay scored The Gambia’s second goal.

In the 32^nd minutes, goalkeeper Pa Dembo Touray was able to launch a quick counter attack by kicking a long shot to Momodou Cessay, who did not fail to send the ball into the net.

Almost towards the end of the match Nambia’s Wilko Risser scored Namiba’s first and only goal in the game. It was decisive 3 – 1 victory for the gallant Scorpions, to the delight of a near full-capacity Independence Station of nearly 25,000 spectators.

Published 07/12/2010

By Yankuba Mamburay

In the final analysis, though Bafana Bafana have been eliminated long since, in the first rounds, South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, is the real winner of the 2010 World Cup finals. This does not in anyway diminish the glory that Spain should rightfully indulge in. How so, one may ask?

Published 04/03/2009

Once again the gallant Baby Scorpions, in a manner reminiscent of their 2005 victory, have made the entire Gambian nation and lovers of The Gambia proud. The Gambia's 3-1 victory over Algeria was achieved through the two goals scored by Ebrima Bojang and the third goal by Alasana Camara. The Baby Scorpions have already secured their place in the Under 17 World Cup Finals that will be played in Nigeria later this year.