Musu Bangura

In 2022 the Sierra Leone Football Association would go on to launch its first ever women's football league joining the fray as women sports around the world transcend their limitations to reach new heights and grow in stature. When you talk about giant figures and women pioneers in sports in Sierra Leone a few names come to mind and Musu Pele is one of them.

Growing up mostly amongst boys in what Sierra Leoneans would refer to as a 'compound' Musu was exposed to the Game of football as the only means of recreation with the boys and so naturally she gravitated towards playing it unlike other girls in the country.

Her love for the Game would see her spend hours playing it alongside the boys at home in her 'compound' and on the grounds of her Primary School the Fattah Rahman Municipal Primary School. She did not see eye to eye with her mom over her love for the Game and they would always be at odds, but a number of things would eventually lead to her mom accepting her choice in life of playing football. One of those incidents that Musu herself recounted was that a local Imam actually intervened and interceded on her behalf to her mom for her to accept her playing football because the Game might just be what would position Musu for success in life and ever since that encounter Musu's Mom eased up on chastising and spanking her.

Musu's fame and legend grew and so one day a match was organized between the women of the East and West End of Freetown and Musu was naturally asked to come showcase her talent. She would go on to represent the West End area where her Mother and Aunts did business (Congo Market) and so started Musu's journey into stardom. The East and West locked horns on that fateful day at the hallowed grounds of community football in Sierra Leone, the dusty red pitch of ‘Parade Grounds’. Musu led the West to victory with a lone goal.

Some well to do Freetonians started putting some professional women's team together and with that the makings of what has now evolved into a Women's Premier League began and Musu's services were well sought after. The winner of the Musu sweepstakes was a new team called the Soccer Queens of Portee who paid Musu with Bags of Rice, Gallons of Cooking Oil and Cash. The owners of the team humbly presented their offer to Musu's Mom who had been so hard on her in the beginning. It was a somber but joyous moment as she now admitted that she had been wrong in trying to stop her daughter from pursuing her passion just because she taught it was a man's game.

These great efforts would not yield dividends then because it would be years later before an official league would be launched. Musu would eventually receive a call up for national duty with Sierra Leone's national Women's Football Team 'The Sierra Queens', and so with that her journey from kicking balls around with the boys of her compound and playing on the field of her primary school had come full circle to her now becoming a global star.

Musu was very much ahead of her time her legend paved the way for the women and girls playing football today in Sierra Leone and around the world.