Gilkock Football Academy
Brufut Branch
Working to develop West African football
Introduction
The Gambia, once a British colony, is located in the western region of Africa and lies in the mouth of the 'River Gambia' from which it gets it's name.
It has a total land mass of 11,295 kilometres square and a population of around 1.5 million people.
Brufut lies in the western region of the Gambia along the Atlantic coast, 50km from the capital city of Banjul.
Brufut is one of the biggest villages in the region and is rapidly growing to meet the size of a standard Gambian town of 25,000 people. The village has a diverse community with residents originating from different cultures and tribes.
Like many African villages it has a youthful population among whom a high majority want to play football and strive to play at a professional level in the future.
Football has grown in many communities throughout the world and Brufut is no exception. The community has benefitted well from the game and has seen Ebrima Jatta (EJ) make the Gambian under 20's team and also compete in the FIFA Would Youth Championship held in Canada in 2007.
This has inspired many other youths in Brufut to take up football as a means to be successful. It is plain that footballers can earn a lot of money and children in Brufut shouldn't be left out.
Football doesn't only bring in economic fortunes but also brings social development as well.
The Football History
The Gambia is not known for its sports, but recently the country has made itself
known by winning the Under-
The team beat Brazil but were knocked out before the quarter finals to Holland, a performance that made the country very proud.
Coaching The Future
The 200 players are divided into three categories, Under 12's, Under 15's and Under 18's.
The academy started with ten footballs with no markers, bibs or football boots... but due to the hard work of the dynamic coaches they have begun to build a good collection of materials.
The Founding of Gilkock
Gambian football coaches, including those of Gilkock Football Academy, Brufut branch, believe that football develops in any country due to concentrating on the grassroots of the game.
They came up with the idea of setting up community-
The Football Academy was founded on 17th November 2000, with around 200 players from Brufut, the surrounding villages and communities.
