Bamenda municipal stadium: no hope one year after Maboang’s visit
By Nukapuh P.
The 2023 North West Regional League is set to begin in the days ahead. Unfortunately, this year’s tournament will still be played on dusty and earthly pitches in the town of Bamenda.
On February 13, 2022, Emmanuel Maboang Kessack, Head of Missions for the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT visited the Bamenda municipal stadium and other football fields in the town. His visit was aimed at assessing the situation and reporting back to the national office so that a befitting stadium could be constructed in Bamenda.
Before leaving Bamenda, the former Indomitable Lions’ player visited the Bamenda municipal stadium, the Saint Paul field where a pre-season tournament was taking place, and assured the people of the North West region that a stadium would be constructed in no time.
“The principal reason for me here is to assess the situation and make sure that a stadium is constructed here in no time,” Maboang Kessack said at the Bamenda municipal stadium.
“Samuel Eto’o has a program to build another stadium out of this, but this one must be constructed first,” Maboang said with assurance.
The one time Indomitable Lions’ team captain said he played football at the municipal stadium some 30 years back and the situation made him weep for the people of Bamenda.
“I believe that we are one of the best in Africa when it comes to football and North West that gives a lot doesn’t have a field. I am going back to Yaounde with a broken heart and I am sure that in five to six months we will have a synthetic field here,” Maboang added
One year after, no work has been done at the municipal stadium. Elite one matches have been taken out of the region because there’s no stadium to host them. Only elite two matches are currently holding in the region, at the Bamenda university field, which is not on standard level.
During one of his outings, Mbigha Njah Felix, President of FECAFOOT North West said the reason why works have been suspended at the Bamenda municipal stadium is because of an injunction placed on the stadium by a former contractor.
Mbigha pleaded with the population of the region to give his office some time to rehabilitate the Ntaafi field at Bamendankwe for usage-with the help of UNDP as sponsors.
With four elite football clubs in the region, it is worth mentioning that no befitting stadium is available in the entire North West region. FECAFOOT President, Samuel Eto’o has on several occasions promised to construct a stadium in the region but his promises are yet to convince the people who are impatiently in need of a standard play ground.
