Mulindwa slams timing of Drum tournament
I disagree. Mulindwa making his point at a press conference he called on Friday at Kitende. PHOTO BY ELVIS SENONO
What you need to know:
"Will they also punish Onyango who plays in South Africa because he has not attended the regional game?” Lawrence Mulindwa, vipers president
Kampala. The Drum tournament completed its first match-day yesterday with a match between Busoga and Bugembe in Jinja.
Vipers president Lawrence Mulindwa stated in a press conference on Friday that he will support the tournament in various ways including watching games.
What the former Fufa president, however, disagreed with is the timing of the tournament that means he stands to lose up to 10 players on the opening weekend of the Fufa regional tournament.
“There were no rules and regulations discussed with clubs and the federation only reacted after we wrote a letter asking about the eligibility of players,” a visibly disappointed Mulindwa stated in a press conference at Kitende on Friday .
After queries about players’ eligibility, a letter from the federation indicated severe sanctions for topflight teams and players who refused to take part in the tournament played in the Fufa regions.
“Initially emphasis was on talent development. But you cannot say you are tapping talent when you are summoning 10 Vipers players, seven from Express and the other Azam Uganda Premier League clubs. These are players that are already eastablised. They are instead going to overshadow the talent of the upcoming players,” he added. Vipers who currently hold a two point advantage over SC Villa in the league also had defender Halid Lwalirwa miss the better part of last season after suffering a knee injury in a Cranes regional game.
“The timing of these games is very bad. We have had no problem releasing our players in the past for the various national teams.
Lwalirwa has still not featured for us this season but we understand he was on national team duty,” Mulindwa asserted.
“The federation is now threatening to punish players and clubs who do not participate. That is not the spirit of the game. Will they also punish Onyango who plays in South Africa because he has not attended the regional game?” he further wondered.
The Azam Uganda Premier League is set to resume this week with Vipers returning to action on Saturday.
