And for the umpteenth time in Uganda, the beautiful game that we’ve grown to love has taken the back seat while anarchy, malevolence, malice and outright incompetence take charge.
When the game touted as the biggest in the land is remembered for the actions of a referee with the emotional range of a google video, touchline welterweight bouts and pitch invasions, then we should stop wasting each other’s time and press forward to the after party.
After all, a huge part of the fan base subscribe to a pint every now and then. The sponsor would love that.
With just a point between them on the table before kickoff, the table leading KOBs and defending champions Heathens served a ping pong game aptly keeping the revelers on their seats.
Referees being the centre of attention
It was a good game until the death when Uganda Rugby Union ‘referee of the year’ Ronald Wutimber failed to explain to KOBs skipper why he made the call he made, and went to award a penalty try to the Heathens, and inadvertently, the bonus point win.
Lest we forget, Ronald Wutimber was named referee of the year although he hadn’t been nominated.
Many have said he was nominated but his card was on the second sheet, needing a ‘Please Turn Over’ instruction.
Last season, at the same venue, there were similar issues with officials. They’ve been a mainstay in this year’s competition.
The difference though, whoever openly speaks out gets sent a regurgitated disciplinary sentence and punishment from the URU.
The Union has done a commendable job in protecting their referees, and in the same breath, a horrendous job in educating them on being the voice of reason in a game of 30 huge bodies crashing into each other.
In this life, three things are certain; death, taxes and something out of the ordinary happening in a game between KOBs and Heathens.
It’s high time the referees stopped making these games about themselves.
The players put their bodies through too much for their fate to be decided by the immaturity and entitlement of a referee.
Abuse of the gentleman’s game
As a new fan of rugby, one wouldn’t walk back into a rugby club after Saturday.
On top of not understanding what the field calls were, there’s no explanation for ex-players, non squad members all walking onto the pitch and having conversations while there.
Or even throwing hand gestures and insults at each other from across the dugouts. We keep preaching that rugby is a gentleman’s game but none of what was experienced on Saturday was gentle.
Rugby is a niche sport, that is bound to unluckily stay adored by a few because the matches supposed to market the game are leaving a lot to be desired.
There’d be no surprises if the URU released 10 statements on crowd control and behavior, and then moved on.Accountability hasn’t really been high on the body’s to-do list.
Something needs to be done about crowd control, and definitely about the stinky level of adjudication across the board.
The final result had nothing to do with what Heathens and KOBs did or did not do on the pitch, but rather what the man in the middle decided.
But then again, these complaints always come up with one team being main beneficiaries – one starts to wonder.
By: James Kavuma
Courtesy Photos
