Big man syndrome keeps Vipers SC in reverse gear

Miguel da Costa received the dreaded kiss of death a day after watching his understatedly brilliant Vipers SC outfit capitulate at the hands of URA this past week.
The proverbial kiss came after da Costa’s employers greeted speculation about his alleged impending dismissal with a terse statement that essentially urged the unsuspecting public to treat the rumours “as such.”Owing to this, an air of tranquility, which has always been so deceptive, continues to hover rather menacingly above the Portuguese coach’s spell at St. Mary’s Stadium.
Vipers SC top brass has done its best to conceal its exasperation and anger at what is by and large a lukewarm start to the season.
On his part, Da Costa is under no illusions about his future. He recently told journalists that, “I have always had my bags packed” since joining the club last year.
Not done, the 38-year-old gave one more telltale throwaway line when he said that there’s more than meets the eye at Vipers. The beleaguered Portuguese coach is believed to have been hinting - in his own coded language - at the informal culture that reigns supreme at Kitende.
The absence of structure has only served to engender indiscipline at the Kitende-based club. Players who believe that they are only answerable to club owner and patron, Lawrence Mulindwa, have gone on rampage as their litany of misdeeds suggests.
For da Costa, this has meant that Kitende is no longer the featherbed it once looked like.
He has lost the dressing room with a number of pampered star players all too keen to give his counsel a dead bat. They can only listen when their larger-than-life club patron puts in a pitch.
Sadly for Da Costa, Vipers is not about to enthusiastically hold out its arms for a professional structure.
Such a structure will deny Mulindwa something he never tires craving - showing that he is in the saddle, calling the shots.
Power can be so addictive for the archetypal African strongman. The persistence of this so-called ‘big man syndrome’ neatly explains why Ugandan sporting outfits crunch into reverse gear when their every intention is to move forward.

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Rugby Afrique: The good, bad and ugly

It’s starting to look a lot more like Christmas! While this translates into homespun, if ritualistic, acts like dusting Philly Bongoley Lutaaya’s timeless Christmas record for a great heft of Ugandans, a decidedly different Christmas Carol is being played by Rugby Afrique.
Make no mistake, the continental rugby governing body wouldn’t mind indulging itself in the pomp and ceremony of the occasion.
But its festive cheer hasn’t flowered beautifully to stave off comparisons with Ebenezer Scrooge.

Tiny Tim comparison
Unlike the Dickensian lead character in A Christmas Carol, there is no hint of remorse from Rugby Afrique.
Contrition for a past wrongdoing has not been expressed after opening the window on Christmas morning.
Tiny Tim has neither been saved nor has the gigantic turkey summoned.
Just to be clear, Uganda is the very embodiment of Tiny Tim in this adaptation. After placing third in this year’s Rugby Afrique Gold Cup, Uganda was looking forward to a sumptuous feast headlined by luxuriously fine turkey.
The dining experience at the 2018 Gold Cup was supposed to have an elaborate menu with Namibia touring Uganda for the umpteenth time.
The winners of the Gold Cup have on the past two occasions played away to the team that finishes third. Not in 2018.
Namibia will for some inexplicable reason be spared a [difficult?] trip to Kampala.
This is bad news for it makes Uganda’s hopes of playing at the 2019 World Cup that much more difficult.
It’s also ugly in the sense that it leaves Rugby Afrique with egg on the face.
So many tantalising questions remain unanswered with the pick unable to establish why a tried and tested format was all of a sudden re-jigged.

Contradicting decision making
Cynics, who are none the wiser in making sense of Rugby Afrique’s change of mind, will hold that a leopard barely loses its spots.
Such are the flabbergasting idiosyncrasies of Rugby Afrique that it recently helped France land the right to host the 2023 World Cup at the expense of its own member, South Africa.
How devious!
I know you, dear reader, will be wondering about the kind of good that can sprout from a decision in cahoots with all things bad and ugly.

Bittersweet moments
Well, here’s the good: Uganda’s narrow player base means that players like the two Wokorachs (Philip and Michael) as well as Lawrence Sebuliba - to mention but three - will have to put in shifts for both the national sevens and 15s teams during a busy 2018.
Besides taking a toll on their bodies, fixtures either side of the divide are bound to clash.
Luckily for Uganda, its two most important fixtures in the 2018 Gold Cup (both away to Namibia and Kenya) won’t clash with the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
This will - barring a disaster of epic proportions - mean that Tiny Tim shall have the chance to clamber on with his big crutch.

What we now know

We now know that the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup is upon us.
Uganda commences its title defence Monday with a match against Burundi.
We also know that developing a deep admiration for the tournament is hard.
What with countries like Zimbabwe withdrawing at the 11th hour!
It’s all a bit like an impressionable teenage boy being stood up at his first prom party.
Whatever the case, we know that Uganda will pull no punches as it sets out to land its 15th title.
Good luck to the team!