CNOOC Amasaza tournament changing football landscape in Bunyoro region

What you need to know:

  • Soccer. Players like Ramathan Dudu (SC Villa), Rogers Lukwiya (formerly Express FC), John Adriko (SC Villa), Samuel Adibo (Lweza) and Rashid Okocha (Onduparaka) have gained experience from the tournament.

Hoima.

Business has always been booming in the former Bunyoro-Kitara empire that once covered parts of Rwanda, Toro, Ankole and Buganda. With the loss of Toro went the lucrative salt works.
The end of the slave trade where the kingdom controlled the trade routes as well as the decline of ivory trade spelt economic doom for the kingdom.
The discovery of oil around Lake Albert in June 2006 resuscitated the economic fortunes of the kingdom. The oil boom was followed by exploration companies like CNOOC Uganda, who operate the kingfisher oil field.
But the benefits have spilled over into sports. For the past six years, the heartbeat of football in Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom has been the CNOOC Amasaza football tournament.
In 2012, CNOOC started the journey of uniting the 13 counties through football by injecting Shs60m in a tournament that attracted 74 teams from the five districts of; Hoima, Buliisa, Masindi, Kiryandongo and Kibaale. This came with footballs, assorted logistics a trophy, medals as well as bulls, and a goat.
But when the sponsorship was increased to Shs100m this year, Zakalia Lubega the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of CNOOC Uganda said it was due to the impressive progress of the tournament.
“The initial purpose of building relationships with the kingdom is well served,” Lubega said.
“Our job is to make sure this tournament is financially sound but I hope one day we will get the players from this tournament into the national team.”
Apart from Buruuli and Hoima Municipality who have won the championship twice, only Buyaga and Buhaguzi have stood up to challenge.

Kitara eyeing promotion
But the tournament has brought a great degree of improved outlook of sports in the kingdom.
Athletically, the full effects will unfold in the coming years but early yields are promising. Kitara FC are prime promotion candidates for the Super League yet Dove FC could join the Big League next season.
For years, Kitara region languished in the ashes of Kinyara’s demise, making little progress in terms of grooming players for the top teams with only Premier SS in Hoima Municipality the only competitive side in the Copa Coca-Cola Schools Cup. Remarkably, now the attention of promising players turns to the region partly.
Footballers like Ramathan Dudu (SC Villa), Rogers Lukwiya (formerly Express FC), John Adriko (SC Villa), Samuel Adibo (Lweza) and Rashid Okocha (Onduparaka) have gained experience from the tournament.
Masindi too has benefitted with their top teams; Dove and Booma players filling the rosters of their respective counties.
Adriko, who lifted this year’s championship with Hoima Municipality, said the tournament is their identity.
“We have to play here because it’s where our journey started from,” he noted during the finals at Kiziranfumbi grounds in Hoima district.
The woman who oversaw the start of the tournament, Harriet Businge, as minister of Education and Sports, is now into politics. She remains proud of having initiated something that is changing lives.
“What we’re seeing is important to our kingdom. Our initial plan was to grow the participation of youths from Bunyoro. If there’s any progress, I am so happy that I participated in its birth,” Businge said.
The landscape for football is changing so rapidly and creating more dynamic opportunities for all stakeholders.
George Kabwimukya, the FUFA delegate for Kitara region said to ensure the Amasaza Cup took precedence, it would have to be the best product it could be.
“If you look at the skill level, I think so much has improved and the games are more entertaining every passing year. If that progress is maintained, it will continue to showcase that our region has talent and that will spark some interest; we also need to prove that we can offer value for money by making the tournament one of the most well organised,” he said.
John Baguma, the Sport and Youth minister of the kingdom and his organizing committee chairman Gabriel Dema think by making the tournament open to any player born in Bunyoro it is a great way to increase competitiveness.
“We shall continue allowing any players who holds a national identity card with roots in Bunyoro. The local players should aspire to learn from the best,” Baguma explained.
The idea to rotate the final for the first time paid off handsomely as hundreds of spectators attended this year’s final at Sir Tito Winyi Primary School grounds in Kiziranfumbi Sub County.
The massive crowd was a new spectacle that was last witnessed in the opening season. It sent Prime Minister Norman Lukumu into ecstasy as the Omukama too felt it due to address his subjects on important issues especially HIV/Aids.
“The Banyoro women in this area must allow to marry the Bakiga men in this area and likewise such that we can build stronger bonds in the kingdom,” Lukumu stressed.
But he was touching a key aspect in the kingdom as tribal wars and Bagungu secession attempts have sometimes put even security on tenterhooks.
The relationship between the Banyoro and Bakiga has been quite acrimonious in the past, degenerating into ethnic violence. The Bakiga, who moved into Bunyoro about 20 years ago were granted recognition by the Omukama Dr. Solomon Gafabusa Iguru in 2006.
The Omukama has also used the opening and closing days of the tournament to get closer to his subjects by donating to people in hospitals.
With such exciting moments in the rear view for the tournament that is just six years old, as well as the looming future which appears incredibly bright, the CNOOC Bunyoro Amasaza tournament promises to be an exciting chapter for football in the western end of the country and could be the basis for selecting a squad to play in the newly formed FUFA Drum.