"Soccer in Sierra Leone"
By Kenneth Obi

wo soccer teams on a playing field. There's nothing unusual about that, except that these players are no ordinary players: they are all leg-less. By that I mean they each have one leg missing. The anti-government rebels in Sierra Leone [West Africa] ruthlessly chopped off their legs. The rebels- also known as the Revolutionary United Front [RUF] went on a spree of raping, killing, amputating and maiming of innocent people's bodies simply so they could gain as much international attention as possible- to further their 'cause'.

One thing they could never maim or amputate though, was the hearts and souls of their victims. The soccer match I witnessed on this day was a true testimony to that. At the Aberdeen Football Grounds in Freetown [the capital of Sierra Leone] I met the team coach, a certain Charles Mansaray. From Monday to Friday, Charles Mansaray works as one of the Limb-Fitting Technicians at World Hope International - one of the very few
Non-Governmental Organizations in Sierra Leone dedicated to caring for the amputated victims of the ten-year rebel war. On Saturdays, Charles dons his soccer gear - a tracksuit and a pair of tough playing boots and doubles up as the Sierra Leone Single Leg Amputee Soccer [SLSLAS] team coach. He gets up as early as six AM and goes to collect his team of soccer players.

And, just like Charles, the matches' referee, Pastor Samai Mambud, works during the week, within the church circles. He told me that if they were to bring in an ordinary referee, he would not understand their unique rules and regulations- like the one on players not touching or moving the ball with their crutches. ''That,'' he said, ''is equivalent to a handball! They must only use their one leg. The crutches are to be used only for moving around the pitch. Besides, an external match referee wouldn't do all this for free either. We do all this for free, you know: out of the kindness of our hearts, as Saturdays are our days off. This is a labor of love for us. Every Saturday we attend and supervise the matches. We sacrifice our time, money for transport and so forth for this meaningful and very important project.''

By now the two teams seemed very much eager to get the games started. Charles sat on the wooden bench with me, while the pastor-referee went off to get things moving. Soon, he blew his whistle and the match had begun. Grown young men, running around the pitch with crutches under their arms - amazing.

Then I suddenly remembered something. On my visit to the offices of World Hope International, I had been informed that every amputee victim on their books has a prosthetic arm or leg. And, I had also been told that all these players were on their books. ''Why,'' I asked Charles, ''are the players not wearing their prosthetic legs?'' His reply was that with the crutches, the players have more movement support [from their arms] and control than they would have if they wore their prosthetic legs. I turned my head towards the goalkeepers, and immediately assumed that one was an amputee - because I could see that one of his arms was missing. I also assumed that the other goalkeeper was a non-amputee, as he was not using crutches and had two arms. Sure enough, they were BOTH amputees.

''The goalkeepers don't need to run or move around as much as the players, so we allow them to wear their prosthetic legs,'' Charles told me, ''and that is because they need to use their HANDS to catch the ball, rather than using them to hold onto crutches. As for the other goalkeeper, the one with one arm missing, we sometimes allow one-armed amputees to be goalkeepers too.''

It was truly incredible, seeing the goalkeeper with one arm stop and catch the ball in mid air - with one arm. Within the first few minutes of play, one could very quickly tell that these guys were not new to this type of soccer. They kicked and played the ball with such ease, crutches under their arms and all. ''Handball!'' the referee yelled out as he blew his whistle. One of the players, a number seven in a Green jersey had [intentionally?] touched the football with his crutch. This provided the other side - wearing the Blue jerseys - with a chance for a penalty kick. They took it with glee!

As the minutes flew by, so the pace picked up- men with crutches clattering fast around the pitch. These guys were picking up speed and wholeheartedly focusing on the endeavor at hand. The ball was flying in the air- as it would in any other soccer match. Suddenly a number eleven in the Blue jersey scored a goal.

''It's a goal!!!'' He was jubilant, tumbling on the ground with sheer joy! It was all so sudden that the players in the Green jersey almost stopped in mid-motion, wondering just how that had happened. The ball itself always remained within the field, hardly ever being inexpertly kicked off field.

The player wearing Blue jersey number eleven, who had scored the first goal of the match, was now passing the ball to number three. Number three tried to whack the ball in from the corner into the goal post… and missed. A cry of mild disapproval thundered from the spectators.

The Green and Blue jerseys battled it out, each team refusing to give in to the other. In the remaining last two minutes of play of the second half, the losing team in the Green jersey equalized, with a shot that went right through the goalkeeper's legs. Everybody present laughed and cheered them on! The final score: a one-one draw. My final opinion: these guys are highly enthusiastic players, and can use all the encouragement they can get.

kenzent@email.com and beatprod@yahoo.co.uk are two email addresses for Kenneth Obi.