Players want football club owners to pay salaries - Sierra Leone
Since all sporting activities were banned by the Government because of the COVID-19 restrictions, players of the Sierra Leone Premier League, for the past two months, have been calling for club owners to pay salaries.
According to many of the players, football is their only career and means of work. “If we cannot have any money from football it will be very difficult for us to survive with families.” According to former Leone Stars player presently in Belgium, Paul, the situation obtaining in Sierra Leone is very difficult.
Even European players, he said, have cut down on their salaries, while some staff of some of these clubs have been sent home because they cannot afford to pay them. He appealed to the players to be patient with club owners and find ways to reach an agreement.
According to coach Amidu Karim, these are not normal times. “I understand your frustration as players; even we too as coaches are going through these hard times – even clubs in Europe are going through them.” According to the Public Relations Officer of Bo Rangers, Solomon Lebbie, they have been paying their players and technical team for the past two months. He stated that before the season “we have budgets for the season, by which we were able to raise money through the fan club, who are still paying their monthly dues.”
