Ivan Ntege out to make the most of his fighting chance

Ivan Ntege’s short five foot something frame belies a lot. In 2010, Africa football governing body, Caf, ruled that the midget frame belied his years. Ntege was deemed too old to feature in a continental under-17 championship. Uganda was summarily slapped with a three-year ban that barred it from turning out in Caf underage championships.

Ntege’s frame also belies his stomach for a fight. Stigmatised as an age cheat, the holding midfielder put on a brave face as he worked his way into gaining acceptance of football stakeholders. The first name on George ‘Best’ Nsimbe’s team sheet as KCC FC won back-to-back championships, Ntege would also capture the imagination of Uganda’s head coach, the maverick Serbian, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic.

Midget frame, my foot! Micho fielded Ntege in all group games that Uganda played at the 2014 African Nations Championship (Chan) in South Africa. Ntege didn’t disappoint, covering every blade of grass in time-honoured fashion. Uganda lost only one of its group games, and was unlucky not to advance to the knockout stages.

There was no time for tears. Ntege appeared to be going places. The onset of prepara-tions for Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches would always see him summoned to a provisional, if amorphous, squad. The midfielder always gave his all during the em-bryonic stages of the preparations. He would, however, always be deemed surplus to requirements whenever the big boys checked in.

Failing to make the grade on those occasions barely raised eyebrows. Ntege was after all being carefully honed. Eyebrows were, however, raised this year when the midget midfielder was lopped off the national under-23 side that faced Mozambique (All Africa Games qualifier) and Rwanda (Caf Under 23 Championship qualifier) in quick succes-sion.

Could Ntege’s indefatigable approach have struck a jarring note with Micho? Or was the decision shaped by age calculations? Whatever the case, it’s crystal clear that Ntege — who turns 21 in September — is no longer the flavour of the moment.

Stopgap right back
Heck, he didn’t even get a look-in for the side that beat Tanzania 3-0 in the preliminary round of the 2016 Chan qualifiers. Micho has been keeping his finger on the pulse of Ugandan club football, and has obviously come to a conclusion that, like his club, KCC FC, Ntege hasn’t had the best of seasons. It didn’t help matters that the midfielder was occasionally deployed as a stopgap right back.

Ntege’s performances in midfield have also been artificially bright and brittle as the loss at the hands of SC Villa in the Uganda Cup final showed. His failure to play the role of enforcer allowed the likes of Abdul-Karim Kasule and Augustine Nsumba lots of legroom. So much of it in fact that they both scored! KCC FC have already cut Abdallah Mubiru loose after his performances in the dugout underwhelmed the top brass.

It, however, appears the new technical team of Mike Mutebi and Sam Ssimbwa has given Ntege a fighting chance. The midget midfielder survived a muscular makeover that saw 11 players shown the exit door. Expect the grafter in him to sprout.

Rugby: Hardworking Lady Cranes hoping to be as colourful as a rainbow

With socks in different hues (one purple, another yellow), luminous green boots, and clipboard on laps, Helen Buteme cut the image of an old-fashioned coach as she cast a watchful eye from the stands at Legends Club on players who were hoping to make the grade for the women’s 15s national team.

She had Allan Musoke in tow. A venerable former Rugby Cranes back cutting his teeth as the coach of the women’s 15 national team, Musoke had a few days back keyed out birthday regards on Buteme’s Facebook page.

Still only 35, a consensus view has long crystallised into many believing that Buteme’s best days on the pitch are ahead and not behind her.

They would very much rather have her deliver a performance full of sniping runs and clever passes than see her pull off a professorial look with clipboard in hand and glasses sitting awkwardly on the nose (she is — incidentally — a PhD student).

Shortly after Buteme called time on her international playing career, Lady Cranes — as the women’s 15s national team is known — unravelled before its fans’ eyes after slumping to a crushing Elgon Cup loss at the hands of Kenya. Since its advent in 2006, Lady Cranes had grown accustomed to lording it over their close-door neighbours in the two-legged Elgon Cup.

Going into last year’s edition — the eighth — Lady Cranes held a 4-3 advantage over Kenya’s Lionesses in the head-to-heads. Buteme, one of the pioneer women rugby players in Uganda, had painstakingly helped set a juggernaut in motion as Elgon Cup titles in 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2013 demonstrated.

It wasn’t just in the 15s, though. The juggernaut also thundered through the 7s land-scape, notching tidy wins in the Kabeberi 7s with Jim Park at the helm. It was rather fit-ting that the greatest chapter of Ugandan women’s rugby was written in the 7s format when the World Cup came calling in 2009. Although the pleasures of the experience proved a fleeting moment, just featuring at the big time was quite something.

Buteme was an integral member of the team that made the trip to Moscow, Russia, to represent Uganda at the World Cup. Back home she always stood stolidly to attention, even at times seeming to crave the media spotlight. While walking away from the glare of the spotlight, she promised to use her exuberance to build capacity in the players’ realm.

Bewildered by how Kampala-centric men’s rugby is, Buteme moved to cast the net far and wide for the women. Her tireless efforts have seen rugby outposts like Gulu, Mbale, Jinja and Entebbe come in the picture. Although Buteme has close ties with Jinja-based Walukuba Titans, she told your columnist that affirmative action wouldn’t give her protégés the chance to have a crack at playing in this year’s Elgon Cup.

They had to merit their places in the squad. After playing against veteran male players in two buildup games on the bounce, a couple of Titans players proved their worth. They travelled to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and had game time at the RFUEA Ground during the first leg that ended 7-7.

It is such meritocracy that has seen women’s rugby in Uganda, which hit the decade mark last year, steal a march on disciplines that have been played for ages. Hellen Gi-zamba, the hulking forward, for instance, played volleyball at one time. Not anymore.

She’s now helping Titans’ Peace Wokorach learn the ropes of international 15s rugby. Like Buteme’s socks, the dreams of Ugandan women’s rugby are as colourful as a rainbow. Just don’t liken them to chasing rainbows, though. They might have poignantly lost the Elgon Cup by a single point, but it’s well and truly onwards and upwards for women’s rugby.