By Ibrahim Thoronka (Cavani)
"As President of SLFA, it gives me enormous joy to see the Technical Department of SLFA train and issue Certificates to over 60 Coaches and Coaching Instructors who have completed the first SLFA License “B” and Instructors Course across the country," Daddy Brima fallaciously stated.
This assertion, made on the official Facebook page of the President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Thomas Daddy Brima, on March 22, 2024, has sparked many disagreements, leading to a credibility check to determine the eligibility benchmarks for all the parties involved in the training process, including the SLFA technical department, the instructors, and the trainees.
The statute of the Technical Department of the SLFA and the eligibility prerequisites to conduct a "B" license coaching course remain a major bone of contention in the debate. After thorough analysis, the fact stands out right away: campaign propaganda is instituted to gain public attention, and the licenses are Dominion "B" licenses.
According to Kendol Decker (Coach Kendol), a seasoned Sierra Leonean coach based in the United States of America, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) no longer administers the CAF A and lower coaching licenses except the Pro licenses, but they have delegated that task to the MAs who meet the requirements, just like the Union of European Football Association (UEFA). Currently, the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) hasn’t met the criteria to host any category of CAF Licenses, which is why they are issuing SLFA licenses instead of CAF/SLFA licenses.
CAF, like UEFA, accredited their MAs who are part of their coaching convention to award both Diplomas and Licenses. You get a CAF or UEFA, A, B, or C License and Diploma when you first graduate from the course. The diploma is yours for life, just like a college degree. The license expires every three years, and you must renew or upgrade it to keep it valid. Currently, all the coaches in Sierra Leone with CAF Diplomas don’t have a valid license. FIFA For School courses have no equivalence to coaching licenses.
There is nothing wrong with educating coaches while putting the necessary measures in place to get into the CAF Coaching Convention. However, the problem, he further stated, is the lack of a coaching education structure and proper classification of the so-called SLFA B License. The course should be called a SLFA Grassroots or E License. Nothing more. These coaches go into their communities with the impression that they have a B license when they haven’t met a fraction of the requirements of obtaining an accredited B License. I have experienced it firsthand in conversations with some of those coaches.
To make matters worse, Coach Kendol said, we have dozens of male and female Premier League and youth national team coaches and assistant coaches with these fake B licenses. SLFA knows precisely what they are doing. SLFA has no coaching education pathway or methodology. What are they teaching these coaches? What are the prerequisites for coaches to be enrolled in a B license? The coaches attended a seminar, not even a course, as they were not tested practically or theoretically.
Moreover, he continued that having certified instructors, which we currently don’t have (yet the SLFA issued instructor certificates to coaches), is not enough to get into the CAF Coaching Convention. The MA needs to develop a syllabus that CAF can approve. SLFA will need to hire a consultant to help with that, as they currently don’t have the technical expertise to develop a coaching education curriculum.
In response to the above assertions of Coach Kendol, the Technical Director of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Ibrahim Bah said he is currently negotiating with CAF regarding other licenses. He authoritatively confirmed that the coaches would be undertaking CAF practical and theory exams on the 3rd and 4th of April 2024 for D&C licenses. According to Mr. Bah, advanced consultation is ongoing with Africa's governing body (CAF) to enable SLFA to organize two courses. D license and administrative/desk officer courses are specifically for women. His statement came in as a justification of Coach Kendol's assertion that the coaches went for a seminar as they have not reached the eligibility criteria to do a CAF B license because the technical department of SLFA is not qualified to conduct such training as per the CAF standards.
Coach Kendol affirmed that putting the letter ‘B’ next to a grassroots course is misleading not only to the coaches but also to the general public, who are not vast into the CAF coaching convention courses. This is an entry-level grassroots coaching course, at best, not even close to the level of a D License from any reputable federation—no MA's titles their entry-level grassroots course as a B License.
Some couple of months ago, the Acting Secretary of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Mohamed Benson Bawoh, informed me that they’re close to meeting the requirements to issue a D license, but they haven’t met it yet. The secretariat's leadership knew very well that they had not met any criterion to issue any category of CAF licenses. Clearly, without the acknowledgment of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), those licenses are fake.
"We will deliver as promised" is the underlying statement from the SLFA President, who promised the whole process as campaign propaganda.
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