David Obua, the football enigma
IN life, you either hate, love or ignore a person. In the case of David Obua most Ugandans don’t hate, love or even ignore him. They combine all three and search for a middle ground.
By Joshua Kato
IN life, you either hate, love or ignore a person. In the case of David Obua most Ugandans don’t hate, love or even ignore him. They combine all three and search for a middle ground.
And does he care? Yes! However, he has learnt to live with all the good, the bad and the ugly. The New Vision readers voted him the second best footballer in 2004, after Hassan Mubiru, a fellow Express FC player.
David, son to FUFA President Dennis Obua encompasses both the good and bad of Ugandan football.
Uganda Cranes coaches don’t hate him, but they don’t love him either. What all agree on is Obua is one of the best natural left side wing players today.
“He is talented and any coach would like to have him on his team,†observes assistant Cranes coach Jackson Mayanja. However, coaches agree the talented young man is like a live wire. “You never know what is going on in his mind,†a leading coach said. He was made captain of the national team because they hoped this would force him to reform.
But did it change his attitude? To some extent, yes. His leadership qualities are not bad. He always psyches up fellow players during training and before every match. “We have to win today,†he tells them. On the pitch, he is always giving out orders like a real captain. There were reports of conflict in the camp because of David’s leadership.
During the Cranes-Ghana match, Obua spent most of the time under attack by the fans for what they called his showy dribbling. But even under such attacks, he did not show any nervousness.
Then he scored a nice header. Suddenly he was lovable. He led the Cranes in games against South Africa and DR Congo.
Prior to the Ghana match, he had scored twice against Mauritius during the qualifiers for the World/African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Again, his scores were without controversy. Before he scored the goal in Mauritius, he had just made the middle finger vulgar sign at Cranes Coach Leo Adra after he (Adra) gave him orders. Obua in reply splashed the vulgar centre finger to him.
But as the Ugandan bench started to hate him, he scored the goal that secured Uganda’s qualification. He is abusing you one minute and making you happy the next minute. That is David.
Somehow again, something might have gone to his head. During one of the training sessions for the CECAFA championship, he refused to adhere to the orders of Coach Muhamed Abbas. Subsequently, he was dropped from the captainship of the team.
Obua accepts he is a player, who is volatile by nature. On the other hand, he says that he is sometimes misunderstood because of his principles. “ I do what I feel like doing. I do what my heart tells me to do. I do what is right for me,†he says.
At first, people thought he behaves the way he does because his father is the leader of football in the country, only to discover this is not the case. While trying out a professional stint in Mauritius, he was so enraged by a referee’s decision that he chased him around the pitch. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) subsequently gave him a one-month ban. In Mauritius his father was not the leader of football. It was just a case of the young man following his principles.
After the ban, however, his father as leader of football in Uganda had to come in to solve the problem. Obua senior says there are no favours to his son especially when he is in the wrong. He treats him like any other footballer.
Obua is one of three boys in a family of eight children. Football runs in their blood. The heroics of his father in the 70s are well documented.
However, David Obua’s uncles were and some are still wonderful footballers. David is a nephew to CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye. Just remember that Dennis is not only the leader of football in Uganda, but also in the East and Central African region.
David went to Kitante Primary School, then St. Henry’s College Kitovu and Kibuli Secondary Schools. Kitovu and Kibuli helped shape his career since they are some of the leading schools in football.
“He was one of the most active students at Kitovu. He was very good at sports especially football. He was also very questioning of teachers and fellow students decisions,†says Paul Magambo, who attended Kitovu with Obua.
Subsequently, he played for Police FC, which was at the time coached by his father Dennis Obua. He later joined Express FC.
However, he broke into the national team while playing for one of the best under 23 teams Uganda has ever produced in 1998. The team with the likes of Arthur Byansima, Geoffrey Buhore, Wilber Musika, Hassan Mubiru and Bigala played in the All African Games in South Africa.
Like most of his colleagues, his performance earned him a scholarship. “I got a football scholarship to Martin Methodist College in the USA. It is while I was playing there that I was spotted by Kansas City wizards, a US semi professional football team,†he says.
By Ugandan standards, the six-foot dribbling wizard has tasted the good and bad of football. He has shaken hands with international stars like Ben Mcarthy of South Africa and European Champions FC Porto, Samuel Kuffor of Ghana and German powerhouse Bayern. Some of his colleagues call him the Beckham of Ugandan football. “ He loves his body and he loves it beautiful,†one of his colleagues in the Cranes says.
“He spends substantial time cleaning his hair and face make up,†says a fellow player. Some fans called him all sort of names including “gay†because of this obsession with beauty. Obua calls this modern and those, who give him names old. “People think a good boy should only have his head shaven all the time,†he observes.
His dream is to play professional football again and to further his education. Obua is not yet married, but he is in love with a German girl. He regularly flies to German to visit her.
IN life, you either hate, love or ignore a person. In the case of David Obua most Ugandans don’t hate, love or even ignore him. They combine all three and search for a middle ground.
And does he care? Yes! However, he has learnt to live with all the good, the bad and the ugly. The New Vision readers voted him the second best footballer in 2004, after Hassan Mubiru, a fellow Express FC player.
David, son to FUFA President Dennis Obua encompasses both the good and bad of Ugandan football.
Uganda Cranes coaches don’t hate him, but they don’t love him either. What all agree on is Obua is one of the best natural left side wing players today.
“He is talented and any coach would like to have him on his team,†observes assistant Cranes coach Jackson Mayanja. However, coaches agree the talented young man is like a live wire. “You never know what is going on in his mind,†a leading coach said. He was made captain of the national team because they hoped this would force him to reform.
But did it change his attitude? To some extent, yes. His leadership qualities are not bad. He always psyches up fellow players during training and before every match. “We have to win today,†he tells them. On the pitch, he is always giving out orders like a real captain. There were reports of conflict in the camp because of David’s leadership.
During the Cranes-Ghana match, Obua spent most of the time under attack by the fans for what they called his showy dribbling. But even under such attacks, he did not show any nervousness.
Then he scored a nice header. Suddenly he was lovable. He led the Cranes in games against South Africa and DR Congo.
Prior to the Ghana match, he had scored twice against Mauritius during the qualifiers for the World/African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Again, his scores were without controversy. Before he scored the goal in Mauritius, he had just made the middle finger vulgar sign at Cranes Coach Leo Adra after he (Adra) gave him orders. Obua in reply splashed the vulgar centre finger to him.
But as the Ugandan bench started to hate him, he scored the goal that secured Uganda’s qualification. He is abusing you one minute and making you happy the next minute. That is David.
Somehow again, something might have gone to his head. During one of the training sessions for the CECAFA championship, he refused to adhere to the orders of Coach Muhamed Abbas. Subsequently, he was dropped from the captainship of the team.
Obua accepts he is a player, who is volatile by nature. On the other hand, he says that he is sometimes misunderstood because of his principles. “ I do what I feel like doing. I do what my heart tells me to do. I do what is right for me,†he says.
At first, people thought he behaves the way he does because his father is the leader of football in the country, only to discover this is not the case. While trying out a professional stint in Mauritius, he was so enraged by a referee’s decision that he chased him around the pitch. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) subsequently gave him a one-month ban. In Mauritius his father was not the leader of football. It was just a case of the young man following his principles.
After the ban, however, his father as leader of football in Uganda had to come in to solve the problem. Obua senior says there are no favours to his son especially when he is in the wrong. He treats him like any other footballer.
Obua is one of three boys in a family of eight children. Football runs in their blood. The heroics of his father in the 70s are well documented.
However, David Obua’s uncles were and some are still wonderful footballers. David is a nephew to CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye. Just remember that Dennis is not only the leader of football in Uganda, but also in the East and Central African region.
David went to Kitante Primary School, then St. Henry’s College Kitovu and Kibuli Secondary Schools. Kitovu and Kibuli helped shape his career since they are some of the leading schools in football.
“He was one of the most active students at Kitovu. He was very good at sports especially football. He was also very questioning of teachers and fellow students decisions,†says Paul Magambo, who attended Kitovu with Obua.
Subsequently, he played for Police FC, which was at the time coached by his father Dennis Obua. He later joined Express FC.
However, he broke into the national team while playing for one of the best under 23 teams Uganda has ever produced in 1998. The team with the likes of Arthur Byansima, Geoffrey Buhore, Wilber Musika, Hassan Mubiru and Bigala played in the All African Games in South Africa.
Like most of his colleagues, his performance earned him a scholarship. “I got a football scholarship to Martin Methodist College in the USA. It is while I was playing there that I was spotted by Kansas City wizards, a US semi professional football team,†he says.
By Ugandan standards, the six-foot dribbling wizard has tasted the good and bad of football. He has shaken hands with international stars like Ben Mcarthy of South Africa and European Champions FC Porto, Samuel Kuffor of Ghana and German powerhouse Bayern. Some of his colleagues call him the Beckham of Ugandan football. “ He loves his body and he loves it beautiful,†one of his colleagues in the Cranes says.
“He spends substantial time cleaning his hair and face make up,†says a fellow player. Some fans called him all sort of names including “gay†because of this obsession with beauty. Obua calls this modern and those, who give him names old. “People think a good boy should only have his head shaven all the time,†he observes.
His dream is to play professional football again and to further his education. Obua is not yet married, but he is in love with a German girl. He regularly flies to German to visit her.