What a week it has been! Sports have taken a whole new turn this week. Finally, Moses Golola‘s motormouth has gotten to Ugandans.
There’s been some form of chaos with Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.
When an interdimensional rupture unravels reality causing everyone to turn to war, an unlikely hero in the NFL must channel her newfound powers of dealing with unsportsmanlike conduct to fight the bizarre and bewildering dangers of hooliganism and entitlement from the Uganda sports verse as the fate of sports hangs in the balance.
Yes, you read that right, the storyline of the 2022 blockbuster “Everything, Everywhere All At Once” fits perfectly into the script of what we’ve been witnessing.
Rugby’s claim as a gentleman’s game
Last Saturday was interesting. Rugby writers are still sharing Op-Eds about what they saw across the Nile Special Rugby Premier League.
The game between the KOBs and Heathens almost didn’t end as there was a WWE ring at the pitch side in which fans/officials/ex-players of the two teams wanted to take each other on in a Royal Rumble.
Away from Lugogo, a few kilometers ahead in Bweyogerere, a Pirates official was seen measuring up to and shoving a match official.
Still in the sport hailed as the ‘gentleman’s game’, the game between Impis and Mongers saw Roy Kizito and Veteran Wandicho have their moment of madness.
Mayhem in other Sports
In Netball, the game between KCCA and Weyonje ended prematurely after comments and other extracurricular activities from the assistant coach of the latter.
On the morning of 5th April, FUBA announced sanctions and suspension for UPDF’s Ferdinand Odama, Martin Ouma (KCCA), David Opolot (UPDF) for in-game hooliganism, and Nam Blazers’ Paul Odong for specifically attacking an official.
On the evening of 5th April, notable scribe Brian Kawalya reported that KCCA FC‘s traveling fans were unhappy with their side’s draw and wanted to take their frustrations out on the officials.
From across all sports disciplines, this week has proven one from hell. Ironic, it’s the week that Christians go sombre in remembrance of the suffering of Christ.
The Role of Governing bodies
The sudden increase of these incidents is a subtle dig at the bodies running our sports and their latent disregard for implementing crowd control measures as well as educating our athletes on the bare minimum of the code of conduct.
The governing bodies have often been castigated for only minding how they’ll siphon money into their side business rather than making sports self-sustainable and presentable.
Most of the certification and orientation processes are handled at face level, for the social media managers to get three photos for their post copies. What bollocks!!
Players, fans, and managers invest so much of their time in these games. The least these governing bodies can do is ensure that the standard is up, accountable and there is value for money.
Lessons from the NFL
This is where, much as we laugh at the NFL (for most, it’s because we don’t understand the game) we ought to adopt how they handle their indiscipline and insubordination cases.
The fines are so hefty and they bite heavy into athletes’ paychecks. At the end of the day, if you’re not ready to lose any part of your money, you ought to stay in line.
They’re an interactive sport but fans are also expected to stay in line, or face stadium bans. We need to adopt this as soon as yesterday.
Writing long press releases announcing laughable sanctions is not going to help anyone, rather, prohibitive sanctions. That’s the only way we’ll ensure organization in our games.
By: James Kavuma
Courtesy Photos
