How a narrow player base is haunting Uganda rugby

With half a dozen Test matches to be played, self-deprecating wit has doubtless led Ugandan rugby’s top brass to appreciate that 2017 will probably be as discomforting as the sunshine February continues to bathe in. Cognisant of the stark realities ahead, Uganda Rugby Union has read the riot act to players more than it has gone on some kind of charm offensive.

The gloves-off approach from Ugandan rugby’s governing body is not born out of calculation, or at least not primarily, but of necessity. A narrow player base has taken the downbeat reality the furthest to the point of conducting affairs with the vigour of a primary school head teacher.

It has always been painfully clear that this handicap ought to be disarmed. Sadly, Uganda Rugby Union (URU) has projected itself as an entity culturally incapable of reform.

URU has ascribed the disappointment to, among other things, operating in straitened circumstances. Which is to say it cannot lace its boots because its hands are tied.

This, though, has not quietened the anger and anxiety of some who point to Uganda Women Rugby Association (UWRA) in stating that a lot can be achieved even with meagre resources.

UWRA has done mightily well in widening the scope and reach of the sport. An attentive audience has particularly been discovered in Northern Uganda with handy egg chasers like Flavia Agenorwot being unearthed.

URU’s narrow outlook has on its part compelled it to adopt a carrot and stick approach. Players are essentially being forced to represent the country when in fact such an act should be viewed more in the prism of something that confers a badge of honour on them. It is hard to imagine worse straits.

This sad state of affairs has seen the light of day principally because URU has made no attempt to widen the player base. It is as simple as that, and for that URU top brass should bury its face in shame. A wide player base means more choices, which usually translates into less begging and hounding.

A moonscape of other issues means that Uganda could head into the busy period later this year dense with frustration and, dare I say, helplessness. A situation where the sevens (Uganda takes part in the Hong Kong 7s in April) and 15s formats jostle over players is increasingly looking possible.

Injuries that the likes of Byron Oketayot and Michael Wokorach are grappling with could also further put a cat amongst the pigeons. These are indeed interesting times for Ugandan rugby.

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Cameroon makes case for self-belief and youth

Fifteen years separate Cameroon’s fourth (achieved at Mali 2002) and fifth Africa Cup of Nations titles.
In between, there was a marginal defeat suffered at the hands of Egypt’s Pharaohs in the 2008 final.

The Indomitable Lions avenged that loss in the Gabonese capital of Libreville last Sunday. If revenge is a dish best served cold, then Hugo Broos’s side followed the unwritten rule to the letter with a last gasp Vincent Aboubakar goal ensuring that Stade de l’Amitié wasn’t bathed in red confetti.

Your columnist shared a hotel with Cameroon during Gabon 2017’s group stage. From its sixth and final floor, Le Méridien Re-Ndama Hotel offered yours truly a hauntingly beautiful vista of the Atlantic Ocean.

Each time I woke up to the view, I found myself powerless to the willingness to reflect on the plane accident that wiped out Zambia’s senior national football team in 1993.

The Chipolopolo were flying over the Atlantic en route to Senegal from Libreville when misfortune struck.

Each morning I made the short but often turbulent flight from the Libreville to Uganda’s Port-Gentil base, an unspeakably haunting flashback of events in 1993 jabbed through my mind. Never mind that I was 10 going on to 11 when disaster struck the Chipolopolo. The Zambian players, who recall the tragedy of 1993 with more digital clarity than your columnist, used it to galvanise themselves en route to winning the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations or Afcon final in Libreville at Ivory Coast’s expense.

Cameroon took out Le Mériden’s second floor, which -- hardly a climb-down -- also offered stunning views of the Atlantic. Unlike Zambia in 2012, many observers had no idea where the Indomitable Lions would get their energy from to do well at Gabon 2017.

With a number of their star players snubbing them, the Indomitable Lions were written off as a basket case. Forecasting a fifth title for Cameroon was probably the epitome of cognitive dissonance. Few people were brave enough to give them a chance. I recall Cameroonian journalists speaking of their team in a sneering jeering manner as the Indomitable Lions went into Stade de l’Amitié’s locker room trailing Guinea-Bissau after a Piqueti wonder goal. Many thought the Indomitable Lions had ripped the lid off a Pandora’s box, but they turned it around with two late goals.

I recall the beautiful scenes at the hotel. As the players retreated to their rooms, Broos and his back-room staff dropped by the poolside’s restaurant for a bite.

Also poolside was Roger Milla (he told me the next day that he was greatly pleased with Cameroon’s performance, but couldn’t bring himself to give them a chance), his wife as well as hangers-on Pierre Wome and Geremi Njitap.

A downpour had stopped Cameroon fans from keeping vigil at the hotel’s fringes, and now one of my colleagues thought it wise to rain on the Indomitable Lions’ parade. They won’t go far, he boldly stated. Were it not for an audacious last minute save by Fabrice Ondoa from Didier Ndong, Cameroon would probably not have gone all the way.