Horatio Calls For Investigation – Over Match-Fixing Claims

The Sports Writers Association of Liberia former Vice President Horatio Bobby Willie, has called on the Press Union of Liberia and the SWAL to investigate the recent accusation made against the Liberia Football Association by two Sports Journalists, who claimed just days before the Lone Star Vs Mali match here that the LFA had sold the game to Mali forUS$45,000 before the actual play on Saturday.

Sports Journalists Leroy Sonpon of the Daily Observer Newspaper and Power TV Sports Presenter Fombah Kanneh, recently released “Classic Reports” to the public, which read: “Guest what!? classified reports” has been released by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for the Promotion and Development of Football (CCPDEF) disclosing that the Mali’s decisive final qualifying match with Liberia is on the verge to be sold.

According to CCPDEF spokesperson, a Malian delegation has been in the country since two weeks under the disguise of visiting their Muslim counterparts for the holding of a successful Ramadan, which ended on Tuesday, August 30, 2011.

The group stressed that mathematically, Liberia’s last game with Mali at home on Saturday, October 8, 2011, is a “mere yarn,” owing to her poor position on the table of the Group One African Cup of Nations qualifiers.”

“A victory of Mali will qualify her with 12 points, while Liberia remains the underdog with 4 points and received an undisclosed amount of money.
“We therefore, want to use this medium to advise the Musa Bility’s leadership not to sell our birthright for peanut, or else, Liberia will be too small for him,” the group spokesperson warned.

Less than 24 hours after Liberia settled to for a 2-2 draw with Mali, the Power TV Sports Presenter Fomah Kanneh posted this comment on Facebook: “I am totally proud of myself for reporting the [alleged] match-fixing scandal that rocked Liberian Football; love my country and l love Football. I will not sit and allow group of people to destroy the beautiful image of Liberian Football just to enrich themselves. Because of my report, the Confederation of African Football and FIFA sent observers here to watch the game between Mali and Liberia.”

He continued, “Thank God for the Lone Star’s players for playing with all their hearts for our beloved country. Well done Mali for qualifying for Africa`s biggest sporting competition; Once again, I am totally proud of what I did. If I have the second chance, I will do it again…”

But from a social responsibility anchor Horatio Bobby Willie said the two sports journalists should have considered their social ethics before publishing.

Bobby maintained that the journalists should have published the names of those Malians, who according to them, came here ahead of the game, and the so-called spokesperson of the Concerned Citizens for the Promotion and Development of Football, which claimed to have discovered fraud ahead of the clash.

He said the journalists rather put Liberia at a disadvantage for the accusation, left the country’s image in question.