AFFU to contest for American Football IFAF Championship

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

A 28-man team of American Football Federation of Uganda (AFFU) players is in Kenya to compete in a four-nation American Football IFAF competition in Nairobi.

The team led by president Stephen George Okeng left for Nairobi on Monday from National Council of Sports (NCS) offices, for the third edition of the four-day championship that will be contested for by hosts Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Okeng said the team is expected to put on a good show despite making their debut at the championship.

"The sport is still new in Uganda and our team is new but compared to the rest of the teams we are going to face, I think we have an edge and we are happy to be part of the championship," Okeng said.

He said most of the players on the team are from Kyambogo University with a few from the Ntinda American Football team. Four ladies also travelled with the team to watch and learn from their male counterparts in order to motivate other ladies in joining the sport.

"The players are in tip-top condition and are motivated so we expect good results from them. We expect Makerere players to join the team later because we have other competitions coming even next year, including an African championship in Egypt as we continue representing the country," Okeng added.

Team Captain Hillary Miiro was also expecting the best as the team left and was grateful for all the well-wishers who would like to see the sport grow.

"I just want to, first of all, thank the federation and NCS for the support. For us, as a team, we are ready because we have been training very hard every day. The team is ready, the trick-plays are ready just expecting success," Miiro said.