by Saffiatou Colley
The Access to Justice (A2J) Noran football cup, organised by the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCCE) through funding from the European Union, got underway at the Box Bar Mini-Stadium in Brikama at the weekend.
The tournament dubbed A2J Civic Education Campaign is aimed at involving young people in the understanding of access to justice at community level through entertainment and sports.
In the opening game of the competition, Fortune FC defeated Misira United 2-0 with goals from Modou Sowe and Baba Sanugo in the 2nd and 45th minutes respectively. Greater Tomorrow booked a date with Fortune in the finals of the competition after a 6-5 post-match penalty shootout defeat of Brikama United in the other knockout game.
Speaking at the event, Muhammed Jawla, the Deputy Executive Director of the National Sports Council said football has fair play in justice because of the points and awards given to winners at the end of competitions. He added there is justice in everything we do particularly in football.
“Such initiatives will encourage youths to take part in national development geared towards complementing Government’s efforts,” he said.
Isatou Bittaye, Senior Programme Officer at the NCCE stated that the main focus of the project is to enhance access to justice through legal education and provision of the available justice mechanisms information. The tournament, she opined, will avail participants the opportunity to learn about the traditional justice mechanisms which are sometimes forgotten, adding that young people are important stakeholders of a nation.
“Hence there interest is sports and entrainment we brought these two activities in order to get their attention,” she said.
Shelly Liberto, the EU A2J team leader urged all participating teams to be ambassadors of A2J in their communities after pledging allegiance of justice.