Born in the Kombo North settlement of Lamin village, goalkeeper Baba Dumbuya was one of the best goalkeepers produced by the country. The former Rising Lions, Jattas, Flemings, Wallidan, Gamtel and Gambia U-17 keeper was very key in qualifying the country to the African Championship in Algeria, which it went on to win.
Dumbuya was said to have been unfairly dropped from the final squad for the tournament proper and, therefore, missed out on the D1 million cash windfall given to each of the player that participated in the 2009 triumph.
The reason(s) for then Coach Tariq Saigy’s decision to drop the goalkeeper will forever remain in the memory of Baba Dumbuya who deserves to be rewarded and recognised by the football authorities.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Observer Sports, Baba Dumbuya lifted the lid surrounding his omission from the squad and how it has affected his career. As a player who had a difficult time in his career, the Lamin-born former goalkeeper reflected that he had lots of obstacles, but never gave up in pursuing his dreams.
“That moment when I was with the U-17, it was so difficult because there were games played on me. I will not mention names but it was not fair. I was playing for Wallidan but it was at the latter part that I came to realise that I was not a registered player with the team [Wallinda] that season. What happened was, when my brother, friend and hero (Joe Gomez) returned from trials in France, they took off my name and put in Joe, but they were paying me as a registered player and I was not aware of it,” he said.
“So when I was with the U-17, all my teammates would go and participate for their teams when the league started and I was the only player in the team without a club. I did not know the reasons why I was not playing. It went to an extent that my goalkeeper trainer, Franco, had to go up to Wallidan training ground to find out why I was not playing; the reasons were not clear. It continued until when [The Gambia] Football Association [ headed by Seedy Kinteh] started having meetings on my issue that I cannot be part of the team when I don’t have a club and the news struck me because I knew I had a team [Wallidan].”
Dumbuya said he was just giving his best to the country and the fans, and thanked the goalkeeper trainer Franco for making sure that he remained in the team, considering his outstanding performances. “I could remember Coach Lamin Sambou also stood by me not because we are from the same place, but they all saw the talent I displayed.”
In spite of his inclusion in the 18-man squad for the two legs against Sierra Leone and away leg to Ghana during the qualifiers, Dumunya only came in for the team during the return leg against Ghana in Banjul, which the team needed to win to qualify. He came in as a substitute for Musa Camara who got injured and surprised many with his heroic goalkeeping performance that qualified the team to Algeria.
“I was definitely betrayed because we have been training together for seven months. I was ripped off from what rightfully is mine. It all happened within short period of time when the goalkeeper trainer was away and other goalkeepers were brought in as we were about to travel to Egypt for training for the tournament proper. From goalkeeper No.2 after Musa Camara, I was moved to No.4,” he said.
On the President’s generous reward of D1M to each of the players, the former Wallidan keeper said he deserved a potion of the money because he had worked hard to qualify the team. “I was honestly happy the team won, but I was not happy that I was not part of the team because I worked for it. In fact, at that time I did not go out because people would be questioning why I was not part of the team.”
After thorough thinking, Dumbuya finally decided to quit the game for business and coaching. He is still part of the game and is now coaching his local team Jattas FC in the Lamin Nawettan where he has so far won two titles.
“I still have vivid memories of that final qualifier, OJ was man of the match with his headed goal giving us a two-goal cushion over highly fancied Ghana but to say the goals won us the game would be off the mark. That game was strange one. It was Baba’s goalkeeping heroics that preserved our lead and eventually took us to Algiers. The rest as they say is history. He played his part in that memorable run to our championship triumph,” posted sports journalist Baboucarr Senghore immediately a football fan, Momodou Sabally uploaded a picture with the former goalkeeper.
“One of the best goalkeepers I had played with. We played together at Wallidan FC. A flimsy reason was given when he was dropped from the team. Gambian football is about whom you know though,” added Abdoulie Amar Gaye.
by Alieu Ceesay
