Old Edwardians FC and Luawa FC runner-up of the 2022 national division one playoff will meet in a competitive match for the first time later today Monday, 9th January 2023 at the Parade field, also the last fixture for week seven of the ongoing 2022/23 Sierra Leone Premier League season.
Both teams have shared a long-standing relationship, Luawa FC owned by Dr Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai Esq. was initially established in 2013 to serve as a feeder team to Old Edwardians FC during his reign as Chairman of the club.
He was able to transform Old Edwardians and ensure they stay in the country’s top-tier league, the initiative of a feeder team was to put to an end the idea of the club either signing or loaning almost ten players at the start of every league season but it was never supported by the executive members.
” There was a season Old Edwardians had to loan ten players from FC Kallon I was not happy with such a manner the club was operating, so I had to establish the club to serve as a feeder team but since the executive never supported the initiative, I renamed it to Luawa FC a chiefdom in Kailahun where I and the famous warrior Kai Londo came from, but yet still the senior players like Ibrahim PK, Hassan Carpet, Joseph Joe, Edward Skrtel and others were playing for Old Edwardians in the Premier League and I was paying them from my salary” he disclosed in an online interview with Radio Mercury’s Hawa Dauda in 2022 last year.
The former Premier League Board Chairman resigned from his position at Old Edwardians in 2022 after eleven years and added that he is still a fan of the club, while Luawa FC serves as his business outlet but expressed dissatisfaction with the accusations against him that he fraudulently converted players of Old Edwardians to be owned by Luawa FC” I still have their contracts agreement, these six players willingly decided not to play for Old Edwardians after SLFA lifted their suspension for playing the 2021 playoffs as they told me that anytime the club lose a match they are accused and abused, therefore they decided to stay with Luawa FC in the division one league and with hard work and commitment they qualified the team into the Sierra Leone Premier League” he further revealed.
Following a slow start, the Head Coach of Old Edwardians FC Abdulai Kaloga Bah has quickly bounced back picking up nine points in his last three outings while the team currently occupies the sixth position with ten points.
However, Luawa FC the visiting side has only registered one win in the league in week four 1-0 against FC Johansen, but Head Coach Alhaji will not be in the dugout after he has been suspended by the Premier League Board for two matches