Clubs boycott league games
Villa players celebrate their winner against Rwenshama yesterday. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
What you need to know:
Soccer. Only one of the three league games was played yesterday as club officials protested Fufa’s takeover of the Uganda Premier League
KAMPALA.
At the current rate, a Uganda Premier League match day cannot be completed without off-field drama.
Two of the three games lined up yesterday were not played as clubs voted for a boycott protesting Fufa’s move to take charge of the league and subsequent suspension of Fufa Super League Clubs’ chairman, Abbas Kaawaase.
This followed a meeting by 12 of the 16 topflight clubs at Hotel Africana yesterday with only KCC, Soana, Bul and Sadolin not in attendance.
Kaawaase wrote a letter on Friday instructing clubs not to honour the match day two fixtures protesting the federation’s decision to respect a court injunction stopping broadcast company Azam from telecasting games.
Azam are fighting for the broadcast rights with South African pay TV SuperSport, who also have a deal with Fufa.
Consequently, Bright Stars-Kira Young and Soana-URA games were called off as the clubs didn’t show up on the respective match venues.
In the only game played, Villa went top of the league after Musa Docca’s 90th minute goal earned them a 2-1 win over battle-hardened Rwenshama. Striker Erisa Sekisambu had given Villa a 37-minute lead but it was cancelled out by Deo Ochola’s second half calm finish.
Villa’s win opened up a three-point lead over champions KCC, who stay second on 36 points.
Kira Young president, Jimmy Lukwago, said the clubs had written to Fifa, the world soccer governing body, to intervene in the league stand-off. “Those (teams) which played are cowards,” Lukwago said. “We do not even know which league we are playing under. Today its USL, tomorrow its UPL.”
But even the two clubs, who honoured yesterday’s game, later said they were in support of the boycott.
“We played because we received the communication (to boycott) late but we intend not to honour subsequent fixtures until further notice,” Rwenshama CEO Yunus Kisegerwa told Daily Monitor after the match. -
Ivan Kakembo, the Villa CEO, said his club president Ben Missaga informed them of the boycott after the game had kicked off. Fufa spokesperson, Ahmed Hussein, said the clubs that skipped the matches are likely to lose points.
“We are waiting for the match reports before taking action. But we shall follow the rules,” Hussein said.
