At this point, it looks like a KPI. Uganda Rugby Union, as they have done before, had an error-strewn release about disciplinary actions for the Cranes captain, Ivan Arthur Magomu.
In what is most certainly a witch-hunt, Ivan has been charged with assaulting a match official (1st June) and bringing “disrepute” to the game via his reactions to a sane call from the Secretary to the National Treasury.
Ivan is no saint, and he probably had words with an official – which rugby player doesn’t? But, we can’t help but question the timing. The game in question is the Championship finale that was played eons ago on 1st June 2024.
Since then, Ivan has led the Cranes to a trial games expedition of South Africa and played over 240 minutes across three international test games for the Country in the Rugby Africa Cup.
In that time, the URU was parading him on media duties like Big Bang Theory’s Ammy Farrah Fowler and her Tiara. And now that he’s been used and the visitors have left, the URU has decided it’s time to drop him like he is a disease.
Motive of the Rugby union
That notwithstanding, I beg to be educated on the timelines within the World Rugby Regulation on citing. A small web search showed me the longest it takes to be 48 hours after the game has ended. But hey, I guess we couldn’t sanction the skipper with the Rugby Africa Cup on the line.
Reliable sources have confirmed that this incompetence was resurrected by our esteemed and highly professional referees who have it as a “Magomu vs Referees” battle. Had Magomu had a players’ association in his corner, this would be won.
The mercurial flyhalf was also called in for using his X (Twitter) to react to the news that the Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary Ramathan Ggoobi deemed Sec-Gen Bernard Ogwel unfit for office. Ivan sounded how corrupt leaders and those embroiled in scandals are not fit for office and was rejoicing that maybe there was someone out there listening to athletes.
That the URU is coming at the national captain for speaking out on injustice and corruption is quite telling. Do they wish their players to be dumb about the situations at hand? Is the Union condoning corruption? Or, it is a case of the Union taking care of the processes through which its leaders grow big stomachs?
What rugby players can do about this fiasco
This is where we need the rugby players to actually stand up to be heard. For a group with huge muscles, they really can be the biggest cowards under the sun. Your national captain is under attack and you cannot afford to sit on your laurels.
If the referees have taken a stand of “them or us,” hit back in equal measure. It is the players or nothing. Rugby players are the biggest stakeholders of this game. Without them, Kings Park is just another bushy field in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A players’ union would ideally be an autonomous body consisting of union members (players) directed by an elected leadership (players) and serving the interests of the majority (players) of its members.
All modern players’ associations secure autonomy under their relevant judicial laws and statutes as legal entities. This self-governing mechanism gives players a seat at the negotiation table (club, regional, and national governing bodies), aiming for representation and discussion in secure environments associated with contracts and competitions while guaranteeing more than just their material agreements. Real progress occurs at the negotiation table with the majority of the regulation minded by commercial contracts.
Urgency for action for players’ welfare
In the past, URU has been tasking clubs to sign tournament manuals at the administrative level without at any point consulting the players and the latter have often found themselves on the short end of exploitative deals.
There are many occasions in which players can be at odds with the people who control their careers. Sure, if they’re not happy, they can search for another job. Sadly, that is not the case in Uganda – a good number of the players across the country look at this sport as a way out.
With a players’ union/association, you will ensure that players will be well-reimbursed and fulfilled, you will not openly worry about game-related government and leadership behavior, and will be in regular touch with players concerning moving competitions and other significant events.
A variety of systems to facilitate the negotiation of players’ concerns can be put in place in the absence of a union. Indeed, even in the presence of a union, these systems may be used to articulate the footballers’ wishes and to bargain for agreements. We saw this in Magomu’s fight around image rights, players who were looking at the short-term peanuts left him out to dry. There are huge long-term benefits to this fight.
Benefits of a players’ union
The three most valuable sports organizations in the world today are the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Basketball Association (NBA), and all three have established players’ unions that are included in this list of the highest-performing unions.
For example, the highest-grossing football league is the Premier League in England, and none of the clubs in the league are included in the list of the top 10 most valuable sports organizations in the world. On the other hand, while the English top-flight does not have a players’ union along the lines of the four major North American professional sports, the NBA was in the top ten at $3 billion just on club earnings at that point, suggesting a powerful connection between a collectively bargained collective action agreement and a highly valuable product.
Of course, we can’t compare Ugandan rugby to the NBA or NFL, but these are sports whose governance and systems we admire and want to emulate. We need to start now.
A closer look at player unions in Rugby
Various rugby-playing nations around the world have a different outlook or legal framework that protects the rights of employees and, as a result, their rugby players. It is the variation in the degree to which these rights are protected, as well as an ultimate lack of autonomy, that has resulted in the sports’ legal framework that either encourages and supports the existence of a professional rugby players’ union or discourages it.
The New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association, which looks after 150,000 amateur players, (spread) around 26 provincial unions in the country threatened to break away from New Zealand Rugby and instead form their own rebel body to govern professional rugby if the provincial unions get their way in a new proposed leadership structure, after a stinging independent review of their game’s governance in 2023. They were listened to.
Creating structures of accountability in sport, including rugby, is crucial from both an ethical and legal perspective. Rugby administrators are obliged to ensure that rugby players, the central figures in their structures, are treated fairly.
Courtesy Photos
