The beauty of Onduparaka FC

The Uefa Champions League final happens today and I ought to be writing in that direction. But I could not resist the temptation of acknowledging the spectacularly named Onduparaka FC from Arua, that has recently arrived onto the scene with a well-deserved qualification for next season’s Uganda Premier League (UPL).
Onduparaka is a regional team that hails from Arua and are proud of it. Last Sunday, against Kirinya - Jinja SS, they managed to do what the traditional giants have failed to do in decades – filling up Nakivubo Stadium. Hundreds of fans clad in green sang and danced to Lingala music unconcerned by the 16-hour round trip or the businesses left unattended up the road at Arua Park. Their passion was tribal and just what the doctor ordered for Ugandan football - which is struggling to attract back fans sucked out of stadia by satellite television and its European football.

I do not know how long it will take these Onduparaka fans to get bored or if indeed they ever will. Maybe the harsh realities of schedule madness, biased officiating and maladministration will kill the fairy tale. I do not know! But for now they are demonstrating that local football can actually generate a following. In fact, Onduparaka’s fans are justifying a belief I acquired last July after attending a game between traditional Kenya giants AFC Leopards and Tusker. At that game, Nyayo Stadium barely contained 100 fans. I was told however that such a game would have no elbow room, 20 years ago.
This reminded me of past matches involving local giants Express, KCCA and Villa that we watched hanging on for dear life off the railings of the Kirussia. Today, not even the non-paying students could be bothered.

It was in Nyayo that you could hear the echo of instructions shouted from the bench. However, there were a hatful of AFC Leopards fans that caught my eye. The passion in their singing and drumming made them appear like the kind of people one would be well advised to avoid.
My sources told me not even Pay TV could extinguish this kind of fan because football in Kenya was largely tribal. Never mind that Leopards was playing lousily and headed for a defeat or that the opposition was a tribe-neutral corporate team - Tusker FC, they still sang about how much they hated Luos.
I left feeling that even if football in Kenya was just as sick as ours, it stood better chances of revival because tribalism lent it not only an identity but also a fan-base to re-build from.

A league that mirrors our tribal diversity would build a bigger fan base and tap hinterland talent. Onduparaka is living testimony of this. In Kenya the Luos have Gor Mahia and the Luhyas support AFC Leopards. Theirs is tribal. Ours could be regional, taking care to avoid tribal sensitivities as it weaves its way from Kabale to Karamoja.
That I believe would be the best way to ensure Express KCC and Villa do not remain ‘small’ giants fighting over a dwindling fan-base and limited talent pool in Kampala.
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