Nile decision good,but.........

By James BakamaNile Breweries deserves a pat for maintaining its sponsorship of Uganda’s top soccer league after the withdrawal of fellow financiers.At the moment, it does not matter whether Nile’s decision was for genuine love for the sport or purely commercial reasons. What is crucial is that football is still benefitting.But benefits aside, this should be no period for chest thumping for the men at Nakulabye.It must be a time of re-assessment in the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) with the target of dispelling whatever forces scared off MTN, Coca Cola, BAT and Shell from the joint sponsorship.For the clubs, competition is bound to rise due to the sh20m winners’ prize. The next four finishers, best newcomer, top scorer and best goalkeeper will also get attractive cash awards.The package however still calls for serious thought especially from the less financially endowed teams. If these teams have been struggling to complete the league with a sh7m each transport offer, what about now when the offer has ceased.My other prayer is that the increased cash prizes do not fuel a win-at-all-costs attitude. The bulk of our soccer fans have lately shown that they are yet to come to grips with the true spirit of competition.The sh2m each top scorer and goalkeeper’s awards are also enticing. These are awards given worldwide, but in a society like ours are they not a recipe for division?The prizes disdvantage midfielders and defenders given that top scorers are usually strikers. So, can you rule out a situation of strikers intentionally being deprived of passes?There is also the publicity fund riddle. Several millions are said to have been sunk in the fund.My prayer is that this fund is not a repeat of the 1993 events surrounding the Uganda versus Nigeria match. FUFA in a bid to justify its vast exenditure that time claimed to have spent hefty figures in payments to media houses for publicity.But as it turned out, it was not true. It is quite an easy scheme as the media will always churn out stories whether paid by outsiders like FUFA or not.I hope someone is not again eating on our behalf!jbakama@newvision.co.ug