May 2, 2017 By Sahr Morris Jnr
Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has on Saturday announced an increase in prize money for the country’s Premier League as preparation continue for a restart of the country’s highest football league.
According to the SLFA, the Premier League winner will pick a purse of Le 300,000,000 approximately (US$ 40,148.6989), which is about 40% increase from a previous Le 215,100,000 US$ (28,786.6171).
The SLFA boss, Madam Isha Johansen, during the Association extraordinary congress in February, pronounced the previous amount as the money available for the competition but several premier league clubs frowned at the said amount, citing several reasons not limited to remobilisation of their teams.
“This move by the SLFA was a response to concerns raised by the premier league clubs in relation to the previous amount which they said was ‘small’, pleading that they need substantial seed monies to help them remobilise and reintegrate their players as they enter into Premier League year,” statement from the SLFA media department reads.
In related development, the SLFA newly constituted Premier League Board (PLB) are expected to meet on May 5 to re-arrange a new start date for the national league.
The 2017/18 Sierra Leone Premier League was billed to kick-off on April 14, 2017, but was later put on hold due to several issues over the formation of the board.
Last Friday, April 28, the PLB held its first inaugural meeting at the Football Association secretariat in which members, led by former SLFA Vice President Joesph Samba Kelfala, were able to clearly establish their willingness and readiness to work diligently towards a successful league this year.
Also, the board agreed to run a two legged league with a break to be observed in August. Sierra Leone last played Premier League football in 2014, when it was suspended through the season in 2014 due to the Ebola scourge in the country.