Violence, wage demands and Vipers unbeaten run dominate first round

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SOCCER. On the pitch, Vipers have dominated winning 10 and drawing five out of the 15 first round games despite playing without a recognised striker in their ranks

KAMPALA. SC Villa’s accumulated boardroom points might rival those garnered by either Rwenshama or Entebbe at the end of the first round proper.
The first interval will be after today’s clash between Kira Young and Entebbe. Bottom placed Rwenshama cannot go past eight points after 15 games while Entebbe are on nine.
Villa, though, could tally six points from boardroom as a result of fans violence in their games against Express and Sadolin Paints (last Tuesday).
That, alongside players refusing to honour their club games over wage demands, unpaid referees allowances and an unbeaten run by leaders Vipers have been the story of the 2014/15 Uganda Premier League (UPL) first round.
It however remains unjustifiable why the UPL and Fufa Disciplinary Committee (DC) have found it difficult to mete out punishments to rowdy fans.
But what is more disturbing is the latter’s reluctance to make decisions against violence in the league even with enough evidence at their disposal.
Point in case is Express coach Wasswa Bossa, who after a couple of appearances in the DC seems to have been let off the hook following his altercation with journalist Abu Zikusooka in the game against Villa.
He followed it up too with another attack this time against an opposition player in URA’s Robert Ssentongo as well as referee Aisha Ssemambo and policemen during his team’s 1-0 loss to URA. All this has gone unpunished with club fans now picking up the mantle.
Like their coach, a handful of Express fans think the only way to let out their frustrations about decisions not going their way is by throwing stones at opposing teams.
They often come up with a song in Swahili and Luganda dialects; ‘Leo ni leo, twagala kulwana’ (loosely translated as today we feel like fighting) that even though is sang to pump up player’s morale, has grave effects. After their goalless draw against Brights, they rightly predicted that their encounter against SC Villa, which was 10 days later, would not end if their team trailed with three quarters of the game gone.

Borrowing a wrong leaf
Jinja-based sides BUL Bidco and Sadolin Paints have followed suit. BUL’s forced the abandonment of their game against Vipers last Friday after succumbing to Deus Bukenya’s strike in added time in a 2-1 loss. And not to be outdone, Sadolin Paints’ faithful have twice been involved in similar actions, first against Kira Young in a one-all draw and SC Villa, as they trailed 2-1, last Tuesday.
On the pitch, Vipers have dominated winning 10 and drawing five despite playing without a recognised striker in their ranks.
In the meantime, it is two years since referees were last paid. Proximity to the nearest stadium has influenced which referee stands in the middle.
The regularity for instance with which Aisha Ssemambo has officiated URA games and Frank Jjingo at Vipers’ matches has left both fans and club officials surprised.
With money that was expected to the clubs from Supersport’s yet-to-be confirmed return still miles away, players bore the brunt with SCVU being hit hardest.
Four players, Dennis Guma, Murushid Jjuko, Benjamin Ochan and Jackson Kibirige laid down their tools.

P W D L F A Pts
Vipers 15 10 5 0 22 9 35
KCC 15 9 3 3 27 9 30
SC Villa 14 9 3 2 22 5 30
URA 15 7 6 2 29 16 27
BUL 15 6 5 4 11 13 23
Police 15 6 4 5 20 15 22
Bright Stars 15 5 6 4 13 11 21
Express 15 6 3 6 13 15 21
Sadolin Paints 14 4 6 4 9 11 18
Simba 15 4 5 6 11 13 17
Lweza 15 5 2 8 13 16 17
SCVU 15 3 7 5 7 11 16
Kira Young 14 2 7 5 10 17 13
Soana 15 3 3 9 13 21 12
Entebbe 14 2 3 9 5 24 9
Rwenshama 15 2 2 11 15 34 8