Christopher Fomunyoh, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of The Fomunyoh Foundation, TFF, has donated money and resoucres to PWD Bamenda football club. Fomunyoh used the occasion to evoke the nostalgic feelings of the Bamenda based club’s glory of yesteryears.

Fomunyoh who is African Director at the Washington DC based National Democratic Institute, NDI, made the donations and recollections June 13, at the headquarters of TFF in Bamenda.

Addressing players, officials and supporters of PWD Bamenda at the auditorium of the Foundation, Fomunyoh recalled how during his student days at the University of Yaounde, he started the first fan club for PWD Bamenda which grew into a huge provider of vocal and moral support for the football club.

“The only other existing fan club at the time was in Douala, led by one Peter Mucho,” he said. “As students of the lone university in the country at the time, we were vocal supporters of PWD Bamenda.”

Fomunyoh recounted events in 1979 when PWD Bamenda reached the apex in the history of its existence, when the club reached the finals of the cup of Cameroon. “The quarter final, semifinal and final matches are still fresh in my memory when PWD beat big teams like Tonnerre Yaounde and Canon Yaounde, only to lose at the final against Dynamo Douala,” he recounted.

Fomunyoh observed that “it was rare at the time to see teams of the Anglophone region of Cameroon feature at major competitions at the national level.” He noted that the name PWD was “synonymous with being an Anglophone.”

To push the nostalgia further, he recalled names of some top players of PWD at the time, such as Ngoh Franklin, Mokube, Moliki, Kemento, Agwa, Maranga, Dr Ekwe, Nji Sunday and others. He also recalled some of the teams which he observed used to give PWD Bamenda tough times. These teams included Tampete Nanga Eboko, Foudre Akonolinga and Mbalmayo Club.

Speaking on behalf of PWD Football Club, Charles Boyo, one of its three Presidents, noted that PWD today, is a mere shadow of its status of yester years. The team he said, is currently in Cameroon’s National League II Competition.

The president recounted that with its 30 licensed players, the team faces hurdles like the absence of a bus, no financial or material support from the country’s football governing body – FECAFOOT, delayed payments of players’ training and match bonuses, amongst others.

Boyo, however, pledged management’s resolve to do its best to keep the team afloat. To support the club, The Fomunyoh Foundation donated an undisclosed amount of money to enable the team surmount some of its hurdles. Fomunyoh the foundation’s CEO, declared its facilities like the library, auditorium, radio station and others, open for use to PWD Bamenda. He was given a symbolic gift by the club – jersey No 28, as appreciation with the name “Fomunyoh” inscribed on it.