Mo Bettamer was added to the Barawa squad after a deadline imposed bu ConIFA on every other side
On the face of it, the addition of Mo Bettamer to the Barnet squad would seem unlikely to make headlines anywhere beyond the Borough of Barnet and the club’s newer fan base around Canons Park.
It will however produce serious frowns on the faraway Isle of Man and a few shrugged shoulders in Cascadia.
For Mo Bettamer was at the centre of the scandal that caused a walk out from the 2018 ConIFA World Cup, and the subsequent banning of Ellen Vannin (Isle of Man) from the entire ConIFA organisation.
The row began when the Barawa side representing an area of southern Somalia tried to add players after the official deadline had closed.
In fact, the tournament had already begun when Bettamer suddenly appeared on the pitch for Barawa’s second match against Cascadia at Carshalton’s stadium.
An experienced player, who had played in the African Champions League, he was streets ahead of the other players in the squad. He also, as a man of Libyan extraction seemed to have no connection whatsoever to Somalia. There was a rumour that the Barawa coach Abdi Farah was also his agent but nobody ever came forward with concrete proof.
There was no doubt about Bettamer’s quality.
He scored Barawa’s opener within minutes of the start of the game. The Cascadian Football Federation (CAFF) had already decided before kick off they would appeal the result because he was clearly ineligible. But Cascadia won the game 2-1 and let it slide.
Barawa’s next game was against Ellan Vannin and it was a big game with both sides having a chance of advancing. Despite being well aware of the controversy, Farah selected Bettamer for the Ellen Vannin match despite being aware it would incur a protest.
He scored one and assisted the other in a 2-0 win. As a result of the scoreline, Barawa advanced and Ellen Vannin were eliminated. They immediately appealed to ConIFA, an appeal backed by the Cascadians.
The Manx side had won both their matches already, but the accumulation of fatigue and injury had forced them to dig deep into their squad, and the cupboard seemingly wasn’t full enough. Players who were tired and injured turned out. Unlike Barawa, they had not been allowed to replenish their squad during the tournament because like the other 14 teams, they knew nothing of the rule change.
The Manx had a slew of willing, fit and able league players just three hours away. They were not allowed to call on them.
That rule change benefiting Barawa alone had been made by the ConIFA Secretary-General Sascha Düerkop. He had failed to communicate it to other sides including Cascadia who would have loved more time to reach out to eligible players such as Seb Le Toux, Kenny Miller, Troy Perkins and Nigel Reo-Coker. ConIFA admitted they had kept the other sides uninformed when questions started to be asked.
After a tempestuous day during which the Manx protest was at first upheld and Barawa disqualified, only for ConIFA to reconvene the meeting later that day, where they got the result Düerkop wanted, a vindication of his decision to allow Bettamer to play.
Mohamed Bettamer was added to the Barawa squad during the tournament
Photo: Ali Gilmore
Although there were matches for eliminated teams still to play in a losers’ tournament, Ellen Vannin packed their bags and went home amid a flurry of increasingly accusatory posts on social media.
In retaliation both for walking out and the explosive media posts, ConIFA expelled them entirely.
Bettamer continued to be selected but Barawa, probably to the relief of everybody but Düerkop in the ConIFA organisation, started losing spectacularly; 8-0 to Northern Cyprus, 5-0 to Panjab and 7-0 to Western Armenia, only one of whom even made the semi finals.
None of them felt the need to launch an appeal obviously.
The controversy besmirched an otherwise excellent tournament and dominated what few headlines ConIFA had struggled to gain.
