Uganda paying lip service to fight against crowd violence

Anti-riot policemen listen to the pleas of Express supporters in Mityana when the Red Eagles travelled to play Villa in a Uganda Premier League game. photo by Aminah Babirye

What you need to know:

We can benchmark our modus operandi against that in Europe where referees’ performances are subjected to a carrot-and-stick approach. Fans in Europe are also closely monitored with a ticketing and seating arrangement meaning that they cannot enjoy any impunity. Fans in Europe can be identified through their ticket and seat numbers. This means those who choose to be errant can be subjected to the full force of the law

To think that, in this day and age, crowd violence, loathed as it is the world over, still retains an inner charm in the books of a cross section of Ugandan football fans is reprehensible.

When Brian Umony’s penalty appeal was animatedly waved away during Uganda’s 1-0 home loss against Togo, Cranes fans reacted by hurling onto the pitch whatever they could get their hands on. It was an eyesore but took a back seat in the aftermath of the aborted topflight league match between eternal rivals SC Villa and Express.

Trailing 2-1 with 13 minutes left on the clock, Express fans brought the match in Mityana to a premature end after their call to arms led to police intervention.

As Express awaited its fate, few in the court of public opinion had the presence of mind to deem the Red Army’s actions as repulsive. And while the Uganda Premier League has since punitively dealt with Express punitively, the penalties imposed — such as docking of points, which Express was going to lose anyway — have been decidedly ceremonial.

They won’t change the status quo one bit. Crowd violence, which is a throwback to the 20th century, will continue flourishing with the pervasiveness of a hy-dra.

The saddest thing is that a great deal of Ugandan football fans see no harm in crowd violence. They have proven to be suckers for masochism. Their pedestrian thinking has led them to believe that the absence of crowd violence in Ugandan football dilutes fandom. Your columnist’s eyes popped in disbelief when a friend he holds in high esteem proffered that the absence of crowd violence shows that we don’t care enough about the game!
Like seriously!

Unfortunately, the aforementioned medieval mindset is seeping into the ethos of Ugandan football. It’s all too blood and thunder for one’s liking. Something needs to be done to redeem the situation. Ugandan football fans need to be brought to a realisation that you win some and lose some in the beautiful game. You can also share the spoils for good measure.

While awareness campaigns sensitising fans by detailing the sequential outcomes of a match — like they already don’t know — will do no harm, your columnist believes that addressing the evident structural problems packs a heavier punch. Concerned parties need to work toward having in place a mechanism that metes out individual as opposed to collective punishments. Shocking pieces of refereeing should be reprimanded, ditto the mannerisms in the stands.

We can benchmark our modus operandi against that in Europe where referees’ perfor-mances are subjected to a carrot-and-stick approach. Fans in Europe are also closely monitored with a ticketing and seating arrangement meaning that they cannot enjoy any impunity. Fans in Europe can be identified through their ticket and seat numbers. This means those who choose to be errant can be subjected to the full force of the law.

Crowd violence has no place in the beautiful game. We can stamp it out with, yes, a change of mindset, but also the political will of the responsible authorities. Let us ad-dress the underlying factors especially since prevention has always left cure in the shade.

Will Open queen Namakula’s departure be a wake-up call for ladies golf?

On the final day of the 61st Uganda Ladies Open at the par 72 Kitante course, a car skidded off the main road before rolling onto hole 16’s stretch of fairway. The symbolism of the accident, which forced play to be abandoned if only momentarily after leaving two injured and — thankfully — none dead, was hard to overlook. The hole bullied immediate past champion, Angel Eaton, into submission.

The Tanzanian dropped tons of shots on hole 16 en route to ceding the Ladies Open crown to her bosom buddy, Uganda’s Flavia Namakula.

After double bogeying the sixteenth during round two, Eaton was at pains to explain why she never has mastery over the par four hole. The 34-year-old Tanzanian lifted her shoulders in a resigned shrug before conceding that “every time I try to take it easy on the hole, I end up playing banana shots”.

Of course, ultimately, it was much more than a tendency to spray her tee shots on the sixteenth that cost the handicap six Tanzanian golfer. There was a thigh strain in the opening round that left Eaton in considerable pain so much that she could only help herself to a dismal 10 over par 82.

Eaton travailed in pain, carding a sensational 69 in the second round, but couldn’t es-cape the rut authored largely by her injury-ravaged opening round. She eventually closed with a 78 that left her in second place a dozen strokes behind Namakula.

That said, Eaton’s misfortune shouldn’t supersede Namakula’s veneer of composure. The handicap one golfer turned in a golfing masterclass that was rich in magnetism. Namakula’s driving was sharp and she hit lots of short-iron and wedge second shots.

Rounds of 72 and 71 left her on track to become the first golfer in quite a while to win the Ladies Open with an under par score. The final round, however, allowed Namakula fewer recovery shots from off the fairways, and she had to settle with two over par 74 for an aggregate of one over par 217 in the 54-hole tournament.

In her acceptance speech, following her third Ladies Open win that leaves her nine behind the legendary Alice Kego on the all-time winners’ roll of honour, Namakula more than hinted at joining the paid ranks.

Fresh blood
So, if Namakula becomes a professional golfer (only the second in Uganda after Norah Kagonyera Mbabazi) sooner than later, who will step into her slippers? Irene Nakalembe, perhaps. Brenda Ngabo?

It doesn’t seem to matter because conventional wisdom suggest that Ugandan ladies golf is due a fresh coat of paint. It certainly could do with some fresh blood.

A glance to the East, in Kenya, shows what probably needs to be done. The legendary figure that is Rose Nalaika has a golfing school that is shaping up to be a conveyor belt of talent. Already, Nalaika’s niece, Naomi Wafula, aged just 16, is making a splash in Kenya.

The handicap three golfer beat Zambia’s Melissa Nawa to the Kenya Ladies Open earlier this year, and evidently has a great future ahead of her. At least on the links.

To ensure that life after Namakula is rosy for Ugandan ladies amateur golf, the powers that be will ultimately have to borrow Nalaika’s template. The earlier they wake up and smell the coffee, the better.