With the recent script written by Babadi Kamara and the Bo Rangers football team, Salone football will never be the same again. Yes, the old age thought about selfishness and “for my own interest” in this beautiful game is gradually been wiped out and the trajectory seems to point in the positive direction.
Sometimes in February 2019, a new name, certainly from the usual thinking perspective, many Sierra Leoneans inclusive of this writer thought another politician has arrived who wanted fame, and as most people think, the best possible way from a Sierra Leonean perspective to easily get fame is to get involved in sports with football the possible destination.
Little did Sierra Leone football fans know that the robust transformation of one of the country’s traditional football team is to take center stage, and the man Babadi Kamara was introduced to the fray of Salone football dynamics; A Timber Dealer and Business tycoon were the only names one can trace from this man whose first and hefty task was to prevent a then drowning Bo Rangers side from sinking to the country’s second-tier football league.
Though a former Sports Minister in the Student Union Government during his College days at Njala University and someone passionate about football, his business side of him was all that was known of.
Bo Rangers were the weeping boys, the then management tried their bits, and the fans showed immense support dancing to the rhythm of a momentous rebirth to the country’s top-flight league after a five-year hiatus caused by internal wrangling.
The Elephant’s tusk was broken deflating the team’s name to “The Bo Gari Boys” as the team was financially stricken. The then club fan club chairman Babadi Kamara was called to arise to the situation coming at a time when Bo Rangers needed that huge financial and moral bailout that will see them compete at the biggest stage.
Who is this Babadi Kamara and what solution would he bring to a team that badly needed to survive? The only team representing the Southern Region comprises four Districts.
The task seemingly was huge but being a successful businessman, no one had expected Babadi Kamara to have been able to change things overnight especially when he has to constantly focus on his business: but hell no! Like many chairmen or wealthy folks who do watch from the stands whiles, his soldiers do the job for them, Babadi Kamara changed those dynamics and had to be at the forefront.
The first point of action was to buy the team a bus; Bo Rangers, a team that normally travels the same day it has a match in Freetown now own its own bus. He then brought in gallant soldiers to assist him in the executive and went on to animate the fans’ club giving it powers to self generate income, an idea that instantly saw it became one of the club’s backbone in different aspects. The perception started to change and a few eyes started to look in his direction with amazement.
With the many uncertainties, hate, and malice then surrounding Sierra Leone’s football, many thought Babadi Kamara could not take this long in football administration.
Along the line, he was skeptical of him continuing in the game, but as weeks become months and months turned years, his passion grew and in the process continues to make Bo Rangers a force to reckon with; every footballer’s dream team, and envy to opposition teams. Through his journey so far, Mr. Kamara largely enjoys the backing of fans of Bo Rangers.
In 2020, Babadi Kamara, his executive, and fan club members started a project that would later be a talking point after being finished; the construction of a Clubhouse. This project though highly welcomed but was somehow met with mixed public perception to an extent of being labeled as ambiguous.
Again, in May 2021, the Bo Rangers Football Club’s clubhouse was officially launched, becoming the only football team in Sierra Leone and few in the subregion to boast of a clubhouse. Most fans of Bo Rangers and indigenes of Bo had never thought to witness such laudable achievement in their lifetime. Babadi Kamara in just two years in mainstream football administration became a hit, but he set his sights on one more achievement, and that is to see Rangers become Champions of the Sierra Leone Premier in its 68 years of history.
After a three-month break from June to September in the 2021-2022 league season due to the surge of the Coronavirus disease, Bo Rangers will on Sunday, 29th May 2022 for the first time lift the Sierra Leone Premier League trophy and they will do so with an unprecedented number of 18 teams participating and the highest points lead gap with the closest contestant of more than ten points.
The mission, all of the tasks highlighted have been completed, and yet still the man Babadi Kamara isn’t done. He is currently constructing a six-thounsand capacity state-of-the-art stadium that will give Bo Rangers the luxury to be playing their home matches in one of Africa’s finest stadiums. The Southern Arena Stadium Project is the biggest project a Sierra Leonean has ever embarked on in the history of sports in the country.
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