Kei Emmanuel Duku
South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) is being criticized for allegedly treating national team players unequally, particularly regarding compensation and incentives.
This follows a social media post that went viral on Facebook, where a fan of the Bright Stars expressed frustration over the team’s dull performance in recent FIFA World Cup and AFCON qualifiers against South Africa and Congo Brazzaville.
In a viral video, the fan, known as Rocka Ringo and a comedian by profession, argued that while fans are quick to blame the players for the disappointing results, the real issue lies with the SSFA.
Ringo pointed out that the association’s discriminatory policies contribute to the team’s struggles, noting that players based in Europe and other countries receive accommodation in hotels, while domestic players do not enjoy the same benefits
“You don’t care for the home-based players, they go for training on foot after that they come back and eat chapati with us (fans), they move on foot every day, the transport given to them is only 5,000 or 10,000 Pounds, money which can’t sustain the players,” he claims.
Rocka Ringo further accused the association of poorly feeding the National team players, a factor that has frequently led to malaria, typhoid, and other stomach complications.
“You only call them to come together when it is time for training and travelling and now when they reach the hotel and eat the hotel food, they start falling sick because they are not used to food types from the hotel. Look at our basketball team, it is well treated and we want you (SSFA) to treat our men’s football team players equally, the same way Loul treats his basketball players because this is where we derive our source of happiness” added Comedian Ringo.
However, when contacted by this outlet to substantiate his claims regarding the post, Ringo went ahead to add that it is important to point out the weakness of the association for the good of the national team.
Ringo said despite being known globally as an online comedian for making jokes, the Bright Stars players are going through numerous challenges and require the association’s immediate attention.
He further claimed that he has been in contact with a section of the players of the national team and some of them are complaining about not being paid salaries/incentives by the football association.
“They (SSFA) decided to attack/fight me online because of telling the truth, but if they thought they could fight me better I too could fight back, they (players) told me that in the last match, they lost to South Africa, they were paid $370, the other game they were paid $500, additionally there is disparities in payment yet each player is supposed to be paid $2,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 above but now they are not paid” he added.
The Bright Stars fan expressed his disappointment with certain SSFA staff members who took his social media post personally and criticized him for highlighting the truth.
He emphasized that the association should not condone the mistreatment of national team players.
He further questioned how the SSFA allocates its quarterly FIFA funding, seeking transparency regarding the association’s financial decisions.
“These guys are buying cars and building houses and they don’t want to finance the national team, some of our players are outside the country, and they (SSFA) called them yesterday and told them to use their transport but the players said they don’t have transport but the association insisted so you can see now, it’s unfortunate that we are not seeing what is happening in basketball being replicated in football,” claimed Ringo.
But when this Publication contacted the South Sudan Football Association for comments, Victor Lawrence Lual, General Secretary for the association declined to comment on the matter, particularly the claims of how much they pay the national players and why players are treated differently.
“I can’t waste my time on people who want to earn publicity on some other people’s name. It is something that I even can’t waste my time commenting on. All his content is not relevant. He just likes to have a lot of followers, likes, comments etc on social media but for anybody who has been in this country knows and witnessed the activities of the national team, he is just a comedian making fans to get comments,” stated Lual.
The General Secretary’s comment was also backed up by an online comment from Albino Kuek Deng, the association’s Spokesperson describing the post as a “public seeker” given his recent records with many corporate institutions in the country.
However, Deng’s responses received mixed reactions from some of the Bright Stars fans online.