A former deputy secretary general of the Gambia Football Federation, GFF, Abdou Salaam Jammeh, passed away yesterday. He was 58. He died in India where he went for treatment in May this year. He is survived by a wife and three children.
Salaam as he was best known was born in Sukuta and attended Saint Augustine’s High School. His first job was as a teacher with Action Aid. He then worked for one of The Gambia’s early ground tour operators, Black and White Safari.
All these while a football enthusiast. He has been involved in all football matters in Sukuta including reporting on the town’s nawettan tournament.
With the advent of the Daily Observer in 1992, he and his best friend, Lamin Cham, joined the paper as freelance sports reporters.
However, in 1994, the then newly elected president of the Gambia Football Federation Alhaji OB Conateh recruited him as administrative assistant at the GFA and that was the beginning of a long career in football management which lasted until 2019 in the position of deputy secretary general.
The late Salaam travelled widely on football missions and was known among the fraternity as a gentleman. His former colleagues at Football House said he was always the first to arrive and the last to leave.
The GFF management yesterday sent our condolences to his friends and family and paid tribute to his work for football.
His remains are expected to arrive from India in the next few days. Victoria Roberts, a former long-term secretary wrote: ”I am shocked at hearing the news of the demise of Abdou Salaam Jammeh. Salaam was a quiet, humble, down-to-earth man. I worked with Salaam at the GFA from 1996 when he was the Administrative Secretary at that time under OB Conateh. It was only the three of us; him, Dawda Barrow and myself. Salaam, thank you for making me what I am today. I am saddened and depressed by news of your demise .”
