ASM: Awesome, awesome!! ….. Your club is currently a second division club in Sierra Leone. Elijah Kellie: Yeah that’ s right.
ASM: What are the future objectives for your team?
Elijah Kellie: Basically the future objective is not just football. FC Kellie represents the community so we bring in football and we start out as nonprofit organization. We are helping kids by trying to use football to educate them. We use football to teach them the basic things in life so they can progress from there, so it’ s not just about football but we use football basically to register FC Kellie with the national league for the kids to take us seriously. Because if you go down to Africa and just focus on a team to be playing in a local league I don’ t think the kids will take it seriously, but if you put them in the national league they will take it seriously and in fact it is something that will benefit them, their families and their community.
ASM: That’ s a really good perspective on what you got going there. I noticed you posted a video on YouTube wherein you were interviewing the coaches and the players which is a very good strategy as far as marketing goes and no one else has thought about doing that in the in Sierra Leone football league system. How do you think this strategy will help the growth of your club?
Elijah Kellie: Basically, when I went there in 2011, I didn ' t see anything like what you are saying where Sierra Leone football was marketing themselves in terms of helping the youths or kids that haven’ t got no hope whatsoever. So I decided to do something different, something out of the norm... which was to interview the players and the coaches and to show the world that this is what the situation is in Sierra Leone, and that you can help if you want to... that this is the proof of what ' s going on with FC Kellie and what we are doing. We not just telling the world that we are helping the boys... we are showing proof for each and everyone to see what exactly is going on and that we also need a helping hand because whatever is going on with this club at the moment is funded fully by myself and no one else. It’ s all coming from my own pocket. No sponsors whatsoever so this is just to show the world also that we actually need help.
ASM: Now you mentioned the aspect of marketing or lack of marketing within the Sierra Leone Football system, something which pretty much is a well known issue. The Sierra Leone National Football League is at best below par globally. What do you hope to see happen to raise the standards and quality of the national football league in Sierra Leone?
Elijah Kellie: Fist of all, I wish for a good foundational organization. It’ s not just saying that people in Sierra Leone and Africa love football … you need in anything you do... good organization skills. You notice that in the European leagues it ' s all about organizational skills, so when something comes in, when money comes in they know how to channel it in the right place and not just misuse money or to steal for the sake of stealing. So I would hope... because Football is a big project in Sierra Leone, it is a common language that everyone speaks it does not matter what tribe you are
from or which language you speak, you can use football to bring communities in the country together in different ways. If they can put the organization in place I believe Sierra Leone in general will become as one.
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