Samartex - history

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History

Samartex Timber and Plywood Company Limited is primarily a Timber processing industry located in the town of Samreboi in the heart of the Western Region of Ghana with a workforce of over 2,000. Being a predominantly rural area, Management thought it prudent to make the workers happy after work and at the weekends by promoting social amenities not only for the workers but also for the entire community.

So sprung the idea of a football club to be funded by the company and which to all intents was widely appreciated not only by the workers but the entire district. Samartex Football Club SFC 1996 was thus formed as a third Division Club competing in the Regional Division Three League. Being a resourceful club with its own standard playing field and a Team Bus, the Club with Green and White as its colours, quickly qualified the same year (1996) to the Second Division Level where it competed for five(5) years with ten other clubs in a Zone. During the third year of its existence, the company put up a magnificent Outer Perimeter for the Park named Samartex Park. Thus the club was one of the few Clubs in the Country to own a Playing field which was the envy of even the topmost Clubs in Ghana: Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak

This was not till after it had put in place a new management Board headed by Mr. Thomas Hirsch (Deputy General Manager), Mr. Anthony Wilson as Chairman, Mr. Alex O. Eshun as Secretary and later Mr. Richard Nsenkyire as member with Simpson Danquah as the Welfare Officer. Along the line, two Coaches were used, the first being Abdul Salami Taahir who gave way to Anthony Mensah in the year 2000. In 2002 after winning its zone, SFC had a play off with Anokor Rangers from Takoradi and qualified for the Regional Division One League.

Samartex quickly made an impact by winning the Northern Sector League thus qualifying for the National Sub Middle League and the Super Middle League , an achievement equalled by only two teams in the history of the National Middle League. The competition saw Samartex missing out narrowly for qualification to the Premier League by finishing 4th out of the 6 participating teams.

SFC also draws massive crowds to its matches both at home and away with about 2,000 to 4,000 spectators coming to watch its matches at home. Some of the memorable matches played include the 1-0 defeats inflicted on Accra Great Olympics and Obuasi Goldfields, both top premier division teams in Ghana and the 2-0 defeat of Division One combatants, Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs. The darkest day of the club’s history is the 1-0 loss to the Feyenoord Academy at home which cost us the ticket to the National Middle League.