At long last, the Veteran Old Timers Sports Association (VOSA) has won the Liberia Old Timers National Association (LONA) 2021/2022 National Championship League Season, having strived for such title for a little over thirteen years.
The LONA 2021-2022 National Championship League, with supervision of the Liberia Football Association, brought together some 28 teams, including VOSA, Alpha, Stephen Tolbert Estate, Bong Mines, Snow Hill, Thinker Village, West Point, Du-Port Road, NPA and Genesis, among others.
At the official closing ceremony of the LONA league Season on Sunday, December 18, 2022, held at the Willie D. Knuckles, Jr. Memorial Sports Stadium, Zubah Town, Du-Port Road, Paynesville, outside Monrovia, VOSA’s team was presented a giant-sized trophy as current champion of the league for its splendid performance in the football encounter, while all players, technical staff and officials of the team received medals each from LONA through its Vice President for Administration, Paul Romeo David.
Following the presentation of the trophy to VOSA as LONA National Championship League Season winner, officials of VOSA, including the captain, officer-in-charge, chairlady and some players held separate interviews with journalists, expressing their delight over the team’s victory in the league. They said though competitive, VOSA emerged the champion.
For his part, Lewis Alva Pope, Jr., VOSA Vice President for Administration, said, “We’re the current champion of LONA league, having struggled for several years to reach thus far as victor of the league due to the brilliant performance with support from the entire management team.
“VOSA’s win as champion of the LONA-sponsored league means a lot for all of our players, entire management team, board of directors and our members in the diaspora (USA & Europe) for the courage and support given the team over the years,” Pope explained.
Also, VOSA Board Chairman, Cain Prince Andrews, voiced that the team’s victory came at the right time after being denied the championship title due to the poor administration of previous championship leagues by LONA organizers over the years.
He said VOSA was birthed in West Point, and paid tribute to all founding members of the squad, dead or alive, thereby hailing the team and its Officer-In-Charge (OIC), Emeka Njoku, and Head Coach, Austin Snoh Pajibo, for their steadfastness in preparing the team to victory.
Andrews noted that VOSA is contemplating on shortly taking the trophy to the West Point to celebrate the team’s victory with the inhabitants of that densely populated area.
Buttressing VOSA Board Chair was Emeka Njoku, who said the team will remain organized and fit under one team spirit to participate in the LONA pending super league competition, to be held in one of the leeward counties of Liberia.
Njoku said VOSA’s capture of the LONA Championship League cup will imbue the team for other league competitions in the coming year. He stated that VOSA’s membership cuts across boundary, and that there is a need to encourage non-members, despite nationality, to seek membership with VOSA.
For his part, striker-coordinator, John Jombo Samuel, with 20 goals to his credit in the just-ended LONA Championship League, expressed joy over the team’s victory, and promised to put out more good performance in the coming league to make the team second to none in future LONA football encounters, while the Chairlady of the team, Princess Tepleh Nagbe, daughter of one-time IE striker, Frank J. Nagbe, also extolled the team for victory in the challenging matches to clinch the LONA Championship title.