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Gambia U-20 Coach Grapes GNOC President’s Award Thursday, May 10, 2007 The Head coach of the Gambia National U-20 team, Peter Bonu Johnson, on Saturday May 5th 2007, clinched the 2007 Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) President’s Award for making all happen in Gambian Football. Born in Banjul over 40 years ago, Coach Bonu Johnson attended St John’s Primary School, St Augustine’s Primary and High Schools. While at School he played Football, Tennis and Cricket. At the St. Augustine’s High School his skills and potentials were identified by the legendary Rev. Fr. Joseph Gough who brought him in as one of the founders of Roots Football team and later he transferred to Flamemins Football Club. He was Coach-player of Flamemins Football Club and developed Gambian famous players like Jatto Ceesay (actual Captain of the Gambia National Team), Arthur Gomez, Salieu Njie, and Abou Jammeh to name a few. He was an excellent player and played in The Gambia National team from 1983 to 1994. He was a member of the National team that won Bronze medals at the Zone II competition in Dakar in 1986 and in Sierra Leone in 1993. In 1994 when he scored his last goal for the Senior National team in Congo in the African Nations Cup qualifiers, he had an accident on his right eye and this unfortunate incident ended his distinguished career as a Footballer. He was a defender and a midfield player who won an impressive 38 caps for the National team and scored 4 goals – not a bad feat for a defender. He continued supporting and contributing to football. In 1993 he was employed at the Department of Youth and Sport to replace the football legend Biri Biri as Sports Coordinator. In 1995 he was awarded a scholarship by the GNOC to do a second level Coaching Course at the Hungarian University of Physical Education in Budapest. On his return from studies he was attached to the Gambia Football Association to assist the Swiss Coach Hans Henegar with the Senior National team. Later in 2005, when the Gambia was to host the CAF U17 Championship, the pressure to win the tournament encouraged the GFA to seek for a foreign coach. Coach Fred Osam Doudu was contracted to coach the Gambia National U17 team and Bonu Johnson was requested to be his assistant. With Fred Osam-Duodo, they guided the U17 to 10 consecutive wins including the July 22 Peace Tournament organised by His Excellency the President of the Republic of The Gambia Dr. Alhaji Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh, in which nine countries from Africa participated. They also guided the U17 team to victory in the Tunisian Independence, Triangular Peace Tournament in November 2004. In July 2005 he was redeployed as head Coach of The Gambia U20 to prepare the team for the WAFU preliminaries. Against all odds he qualified the team, beating Mali and Burkina Faso, on the way to the finals in Nigeria. He was now fully entrenched as a permanent coach for The Gambia U20 team preparing for the 15th Edition of CAF U20 Championship in Congo 2007. He guided the team to qualification to Congo by beating Sierra Leone (4-0 and 1-1) Morocco (2-2 and 2-0) and Mali (1-1 and 2-1). In Congo at the CAF U20 Championship finals, the team made history by winning 9 clear points in the group stages beating Burkina Faso 2 – 0, Host Congo 1 – 0 and Ivory Coast 1-0. The Gambia was the only team that qualified to the semi finals without conceding a goal and the first team to qualify to the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup this summer in Canada. The whole of the Gambia wait with hope for this tournament, the first Gambian U20 team to play in the FIFA U20 World Cup.
Source: The Point |
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