Ugandan football turns into netball
Aug 31, 2003
The Other SIDE OF THE COIN<br><br>There is a popular saying that “in soccer anything can happen.†But when the scoreline transforms soccer into netball one cannot help feeling that there could be a great deal more than readily meets the eye.
The Other SIDE OF THE COIN
With Paul Waibale Senior
There is a popular saying that “in soccer anything can happen.†But when the scoreline transforms soccer into netball one cannot help feeling that there could be a great deal more than readily meets the eye. And that is the impression nursed by several soccer pundits in respect to the Namboole melodrama in which title-hungry S.C Villa pumped a 22 all time goal record into relegated Akol FC’s net.
If I may call a spade a spade, this was an ugly scenario that could amuse only those with a bad taste.
Interestingly, this was not something entirely new in the annals of Uganda’s soccer history.
It was merely a case of history repeating itself.
The previous league goal record was scored by old-timers Nsambya FC who needed a tally of 18 goals in their last second division match to gain promotion to first division, which was then the top division of the National Football League.
Despite collusion with the opposing team, Nsambya managed to score only 14 goals and would have failed to qualify if the referee did not bail them out. In his report, the referee recorded that Nsambya had netted 18 goals, which was the number they needed to leap to the first Division. Indeed Nsambya did sneak into the First Division via the referee’s manipulation, but subsequent investigations established that the referee had twisted the score and he was banned for life. I am not suggesting that anything equally sinister happened in respect of the Villa versus Akol encounter but there is at least one similarity worth noting.
Villa, like Nsambya, needed a handsome goal tally against Akol in order to stretch the goal gap between them and Express FC so that they are ahead should the league title turn up to be decided on goal difference. There is of course nothing wrong with Villa aspiring to achieve a netball score, but there are several aspects of the encounter that tender an invitation for objective scrutiny.
First there is the strange fact that Akol could field only nine players despite having left their base at Lira with a full contingent. Stranger still, is the allegation that 10 of the club’s players were “kidnapped†from the contingent at some point on the way to Kampala.
Second, even against only nine men scoring as many as 22 goals is not a down-hill task. Third, only a few days previously, Express had played against Akol in Lira and merely managed to net a miserable two goals, one wonders what suddenly deflated Akol’s power. I am told that there had been rumours that Akol would not turn up for the Namboole encounter against Villa so that Villa’s score would be limited to two goals awarded when the opponents fail to show up. This, it is argued, was meant to favour Express who benefits from any move that keeps Villa’s goal tally down. Be that as it may, it is prudent to seek the correct answers to the question that arise from its situation.
For example what is the answer to the vital question of who organised the “kidnapping†of Akol players enroute Kampala and why?
It is not enough for Villa’s coach Micho Sredrojevie to lead a mind-slinging campaign against the National Football league committee.
His accusation that Property Masters, who declined to dish out sh1,100,000 in respect of the 22 goals until the air is cleared, are “Working with bad people out to destroy football,†is an emotional outburst for which he advances no plausible evidence.
Apart from the circumstances that surrounded the Villa-Akol episode , there are several other aspects of the Nile Special Super League that deserve a close and critical analysis. There is need to verify why several Express matches had to be abandoned, why one referee is said to have officiated seven consecutive matches involving Express, and why referees seem to nurse a strange appetite for awarding Express penalty kicks at vital stages of matches.
But of course that sequence of events does not necessarily mean that referees are engaged in foul play.
As the recent CECAFA elections have demonstrated, Uganda has the best man in the region at the helm of its football administration.
All we need is to offer wise counsel to FUFA for jumping over the many hurdles, rather than dream that the hurdles will one day be removed.
With Paul Waibale Senior
There is a popular saying that “in soccer anything can happen.†But when the scoreline transforms soccer into netball one cannot help feeling that there could be a great deal more than readily meets the eye. And that is the impression nursed by several soccer pundits in respect to the Namboole melodrama in which title-hungry S.C Villa pumped a 22 all time goal record into relegated Akol FC’s net.
If I may call a spade a spade, this was an ugly scenario that could amuse only those with a bad taste.
Interestingly, this was not something entirely new in the annals of Uganda’s soccer history.
It was merely a case of history repeating itself.
The previous league goal record was scored by old-timers Nsambya FC who needed a tally of 18 goals in their last second division match to gain promotion to first division, which was then the top division of the National Football League.
Despite collusion with the opposing team, Nsambya managed to score only 14 goals and would have failed to qualify if the referee did not bail them out. In his report, the referee recorded that Nsambya had netted 18 goals, which was the number they needed to leap to the first Division. Indeed Nsambya did sneak into the First Division via the referee’s manipulation, but subsequent investigations established that the referee had twisted the score and he was banned for life. I am not suggesting that anything equally sinister happened in respect of the Villa versus Akol encounter but there is at least one similarity worth noting.
Villa, like Nsambya, needed a handsome goal tally against Akol in order to stretch the goal gap between them and Express FC so that they are ahead should the league title turn up to be decided on goal difference. There is of course nothing wrong with Villa aspiring to achieve a netball score, but there are several aspects of the encounter that tender an invitation for objective scrutiny.
First there is the strange fact that Akol could field only nine players despite having left their base at Lira with a full contingent. Stranger still, is the allegation that 10 of the club’s players were “kidnapped†from the contingent at some point on the way to Kampala.
Second, even against only nine men scoring as many as 22 goals is not a down-hill task. Third, only a few days previously, Express had played against Akol in Lira and merely managed to net a miserable two goals, one wonders what suddenly deflated Akol’s power. I am told that there had been rumours that Akol would not turn up for the Namboole encounter against Villa so that Villa’s score would be limited to two goals awarded when the opponents fail to show up. This, it is argued, was meant to favour Express who benefits from any move that keeps Villa’s goal tally down. Be that as it may, it is prudent to seek the correct answers to the question that arise from its situation.
For example what is the answer to the vital question of who organised the “kidnapping†of Akol players enroute Kampala and why?
It is not enough for Villa’s coach Micho Sredrojevie to lead a mind-slinging campaign against the National Football league committee.
His accusation that Property Masters, who declined to dish out sh1,100,000 in respect of the 22 goals until the air is cleared, are “Working with bad people out to destroy football,†is an emotional outburst for which he advances no plausible evidence.
Apart from the circumstances that surrounded the Villa-Akol episode , there are several other aspects of the Nile Special Super League that deserve a close and critical analysis. There is need to verify why several Express matches had to be abandoned, why one referee is said to have officiated seven consecutive matches involving Express, and why referees seem to nurse a strange appetite for awarding Express penalty kicks at vital stages of matches.
But of course that sequence of events does not necessarily mean that referees are engaged in foul play.
As the recent CECAFA elections have demonstrated, Uganda has the best man in the region at the helm of its football administration.
All we need is to offer wise counsel to FUFA for jumping over the many hurdles, rather than dream that the hurdles will one day be removed.