ASM: That’s great, …. Now I have to say you are considered one of very few team owners who have recently given a global face to Sierra Leone football, how does it feel like to be mentioned along the likes of Mo- hamed Kallon and Isha Johansen. These are owners who have raised the profile of Sierra Leone football in the international scene, so what does it feel like to be mentioned along with those two individuals.
Elijah Kellie: First of all I feel privileged and I have to congratulate Mr. Kallon and Ms. Isha, they are ab- solutely doing a tremen- dous Job. They have taken Sierra Leone Foot- ball to another level. But not just them I believe there are other people like team managers and oth- ers that are actually doing well that we don’t know about. Because when I was there, I found out that there are a lot of people helping the situation out. However I basically feel privileged and I have to thank God because I am not at their level in terms of their financial situation but FC Kellie is still going strong since 2007 by the
grace of God …. So I am just hoping that one day God will open doors and sponsorship will come in to help those kids.
ASM: Now that we have mentioned Isha Johansen and I believe you probably have your feelers out there about pretty much what goes on in the football world of Sierra Leone, you know that there has been an ongoing setback with the national football leader- ship of SLFA what do you make of that as one who is vested in the de- velopment of the game in the country.
Elijah Kellie: well to be honest I don’t really know what’s going on in the SLFA organization in Sierra Leone but who- ever they appoint I will give them my support and I believe that they will use the position to their strength to make changes to the situation in Sierra Leone and also I want to encourage FIFA to put in more effort in Sierra Leone’s football. It is not just about talking and giving money. I will
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like FIFA to actually put in more effort at the grass- roots level of the game, to actually look into the situa- tion in Sierra Leone. So it’s not about the top lev- els right now or about the Premier League or about who is going to be the leader or who is not going to be the leader. I believe if FIFA really wants to help Sierra Leone they can start from the grassroots. That’s why I give credit to the Craig Bellamy Foun- dation, the FC Kallon Foundation and Isha and what she is doing you know. We need to start from the basic instead of at the top.
ASM: Now let’s go back to your club, let’s talk a little bit about your club, what are the current issues that your club faces and how do you intend to resolve them .
Elijah Kellie; well the cur- rent issue at the moment facing my club honestly is unlike most clubs in Sierra Leone at the moment who are financially strong and can afford to pay their players salaries to keep them going .. the one is- sues at the moment is fi- nancial problems. So I
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