Institutional clubs hold an unfair advantage in Ugandan football

With barely a breath caught as the Azam Uganda Premier League (AUPL) reaches its climax, our football partners throw spanners in the works with assessment of the AUPL clubs, particularly the contenders.

A few days ago, a young man opined on Facebook that Villa and Express are ‘victims of failure to plan long-term in the mid-90s.’ They further insinuated that it would be ‘plastic’ if Villa won the league title. In the same thread, the man heaps praise on a well-run Onduparaka, but overlooked the fact that its primary rise to fame has nothing to do with football, but regional and cultural identity.

And following KCCA FC’s 2-0 win over Al-Ahly in the Caf Champions League, our football gurus have been in the media telling all and sundry how KCCA is the model club. They cite KCCA’s recent achievements on the continent, solid financial base, huge sponsorship deals, player welfare and its stadium in Lugogo.

They then chide Villa for not doing enough to reach those levels.
First of all, there is a huge distinction between running a community club and an institution like the Kampala Capital City Authority, whose scope of influence goes beyond football. On hindsight alone, this gives an institutional side an unfair advantage right from acquiring players to sustaining the club. Put simply, it cannot be an even contest when one club is funded on taxpayers’ money at the expense of the opponents.

Is this a level-playing field? I say no because this is the greatest domestic football terrorism for a public institution to fund against community clubs. There is no doubt Villa has the biggest fan base in the country and other clubs feed off gate collections in matches involving Villa, but behind the scenes, there are things we cannot compete favourably with institutional clubs. You only have to look at how it is done in Europe to understand why the notion of institutional clubs is outdated.

Giants such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are registered associations independent of the metropolises they represent. Even regionally, clubs such as Lusaka City FC, Nairobi FC and Maputo FC are not dependant on the political/city authorities.
So, until KCCA becomes self-sustaining, it is holding an unfair advantage over the rest of the competition. Unlike in Europe where change in government or city policy does not affect the club’s standing, any such change in Uganda greatly hit an institutional club’s brand value.

What differentiates KCCA’s success from that of UPDF FC, Maroons FC or Police FC is simply the level of funding from the respective institutions.
When Allen Kagina, former URA commissioner general, was still enthusiastic about football, URA FC dominated everything. Meanwhile, we all saw what happened to Umeme FC when Simon D’Ujanga left the parent institution.

The day Jennifer Musisi decides to close a tap on the more than Shs5 billion KCCA sets aside for the club every season, it would be a different story. And, the advantage institutional clubs hold over community clubs extends to leverage. I once failed to secure sponsorship from a leading telecom company on grounds that Villa cannot influence anything beyond football. To me, institutional clubs distort football industry rather than growing it. It also creates a wrong and artificial representation of the league before different stakeholders such as regulators, sponsors and fans.

As things stand, no other club can compete with KCCA for the signature of a player. Ask yourself; how many clubs have the financial capacity to play on the continent? So, in a league like ours, which is still yet to reach full professional status, it would be unfair to praise an institutional club for basically doing what it is supposed to do. Instead, UFSL and Fufa executive would be expending their energies on promoting community clubs, whose financiers and funders do so for the passion of the game.

I have on several occasions compared notes with people like Lawrence Mulindwa of Vipers FC, or even Bright Stars chairman Ronald Mutebi, Ali Ssekatawa of Nyamityobora, who have greatly invested in football to see the game develop. These are the real heroes in our game because they are able to compete with teams facilitated by taxpayers. In fact, you will realise that the AUPL is dominated by community clubs (10).

Amidst the imbalance, the remedy lies in government’s interest in seeing the game develop. Football is a business, first, before entertainment as it generates billions of shillings through revenue, sponsorship and of recent, betting. If only government could set aside a fraction of the taxes collected from football matches to facilitate the clubs that generate it.

Mr Misagga is SC Villa president
and football investor.