Fufa Awards: Trump was right, system is rigged
Male Footballer of the Year Shaban Mohammad (L) with presidents William Blick (UOC) and Moses Magogo (Fufa) during the Airtel-Fufa awards ceremony last week. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Soccer. Shaban Mohammad had a great year, but pales in comparison with Dennis Onyango’s feats.
- Former’s controversial win of the top gong in a rather flawed system will not help even the slimmest of chances the otherwise more deserving Onyango had at Caf awards.
Shaban Mohammad is not just a lucky boy. He knows how to prepare his dates with luck.
The Onduparaka striker’s potency in front of goal helped his side to the Uganda Cup final and the Uganda Premier League (UPL).
His 30 goals in all competitions, including eight in his club’s debut topflight season so far, earned him a Toyota Altezza - top prize for the 2016 Male Footballer of the Year in the Airtel-Fufa Awards.
The 20-year-old was privileged to scale the heights on the same day ‘freak of nature’, Usain Bolt, was named the IAAF Athlete of the Year for a record sixth time, thanks to the Jamaican’s three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay) at the Rio Olympics.
Now, the contrasting view is that the winner in Monte Carlo on Friday night was expected, and rightly so announced. And the winner announced at Speke Resort Munyonyo? Well, majorly a product of a flawed system of voting – a rigged system if you love listening to US President-elect Donald Trump.
Straight from the inaugural event last year, in which Fufa were lucky that fans duly voted for a popular – and rightly deserving – winner in Farouk Miya, the system has been rigged.
Miya’s selection was only a welcome relief because it was backed by statistics, impact and emotion. It was also straightforward as the awards were limited to local-based footballers.
No match for Onyango
Not this time round, when Fufa could hardly reason that actually two categories of foreign-based and home-based MVP could have served everyone better.
The accident this time might have been welcomed resoundingly in West Nile, home of Mohammad, and arguably at Fufa and other forces that influence these things.
This one will have hardly been welcomed by technical people, by Onyango or Miya, who has scored just about every Cranes important goal in Afcon and World Cup qualification, because it involved more emotions than statistical justification and impact.
The loud cheer, before a hush of silence, when Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) president William Blick announced the winner – according to a public vote – told it all. Social media also told of the mood.
Whatever the case, you cannot simply hand over your entire credibility – assuming you have one – to fans. Most of the time fans will vote on emotion rather than technicalities.
You will have to invent another planet to convince anyone we share breath with that trophy-less Mohammed’s feats better Onyango’s.
Scoring seven goals in the run-up to the Uganda Cup final cannot be aired in the same breath as becoming the first Ugandan to win the Caf Champions League and clinching the South African league title, which came with the Goalkeeper of the Year accolade.
It needs no emphasizing that Onyango – also the reigning Uspa Footballer of the Year - formed the pillar of Uganda’s return to the Nations Cup after a 39-year absence.
The goalkeeper has also been superb for the Cranes in the qualifiers for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, and is currently in Japan, where he will also become the first Ugandan to play at the Club World Cup.
It is suicidal to hand such sensitive matters 100 per cent to fans. It is not that Dennis Mbidde, head of the awards, and Fufa have a limited scope for lessons to pick from. Perhaps they simply never learn.
Just in the 2012 Uganda Super League (USL) awards, which Mbidde organized, the public vote counted for only 30 per cent, with the other determined by a team of technical experts.
Bolt’s victory last Friday was also decided by IAAF Council’s 50 per cent of the vote, with 25 per cent each decided by IAAF Family and the public.
Micho’s dilemma
An international jury of specialist journalists will, going forward, determine the Ballon d’Or, ditching national team coaches and captains who have been part of the process until recently.
Members of the Caf media, technical and development committees, panel of 20 journalists, and national team coaches will also determine 2016 Glo Awards winners in January. So who do Fufa exactly learn from?
The events at Munyonyo could in some way affect Onyango’s chances, however slim, at the Caf Awards. Naturally, chances are not improved by not being recognized at home.
Perhaps what these awards have achieved is, well, thankfully given Mohammad an improved life, and inspiration. But at what expense?
They have also successfully left Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic in an awkward situation. I mean, how can the best footballer in Uganda miss the flight to Gabon?
