Arua Hill to play home games away from home

Arua Hill FC will play all their second-round games at the Bombo Military Ground Bombo in order to cut costs, according to their new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brenda Nyamwiza.

Not long ago, the 'Kongolo', as they are locally and famously known at home, promised so much and emerged as the next big thing to have come from Arua, having managed fourth-place and fifth-place finishes in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 Uganda Premier League seasons.

But following the withdrawal from management by former owner Joel A’ita, the team immediately ran into a financial squeeze a few months after his exit, with their 7-1 loss to Kitara mid-December, when they fielded only 8 men highlighting their woes.

“The Club right now is in a financial crisis, so we are trying to lay different strategies to ensure that the players are given morale to play,” Nyamwiza said.

“The one thing that led to one match being played by the ‘eight commandos' was still related to the financial crisis with no money, and no transport allowance.

“So we are trying to lay different strategies but I must admit it is going to be an uphill task but we are going to ensure we talk to the players that we have and maybe re-negotiate new contracts with them to ensure we live within the means of the club; and so that we don’t promise too much that we cannot pay, meaning, they are going to sign contracts that they are happy with and ones that we can afford,” Nyamwiza stated.

Earlier the new team administration had struck a deal with the prison authorities to play their matches from there but FUFA later told them they could not use it because it had already been booked by other teams. She says this new move will cut transport costs by half.

We requested UPDF to allow us to share the pitch. They accepted but we are yet to agree on the terms and conditions. Hope we will come to terms by the end of this week,” Nyamwiza said.

She said they had also done all the paper work indicating change of ownership of the club which she submitted to FUFA last week on Wednesday but FUFA has since asked them to submit new documents as per the FUFA club licensing guidelines.

“We are submitting all the requirements afresh to avoid the past experience of what the club has gone through. It's a hectic process especially in this short period but we are trying our best to beat the deadline of January 29,” she stated.

“We are also awaiting the official communication from the Uganda Registration Service Bureau (URSB) regarding our application for the changes in management and we have a letter from them showing it is an ongoing process that will be completed soon,”

Arua Hill FC will also play the second round under a new technical bench which will be announced after FUFA approves of the documents submitted with all the new details.