Why Uganda footballers fail trials in South Africa
Failed: Former KCCA left-back Ochaya did not leave an impression during trials in South Africa. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
Kampala. It is becoming a norm for Ugandan players to land invites to have trials with South African clubs and end up failing miserably.
To this end, only Denis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns) and David Obua (Kaizer Chiefs) pop up as the most successful exports to South Africa.
Proline and Uganda Cranes gangly defender Savio Kabugo is the latest in a line of many now trying his luck at PSL side Bloemfontein Celtic but like Muhammad Shaban, Rashid Toha, Joseph Ochaya,Tonny Mawejje, Saidi Kyeyune, Timothy Awany and many others before, it is highly doubted he will get the breakthrough.
“I visited Savio on Sunday and gave him a pep talk on Sunday,” Onyango, who has spent the last 10 years in the South African elite league, said.
Onyango adds that he has been able to make it to the top echelons mainly because of hard work, perseverance, willingness to learn and discipline – traits that are rare in many a Ugandan player.
“You know we don’t have academies back home so you have to learn on the job but with hard work and patience you can make it,” he said.
Player agent Dan Ntale casts the transfer burden net beyond South Africa.
“I won’t say South Africa only; it is hard in any serious top level league. Our players aren’t developed early thus missing basics of football.
“The mode of training and facilities matter a lot; South Africa has a limit of foreign players which is five. To fit in there you dont only have to be good, you have to be better than the locals,” said Ntale, a former SC Villa defender.
Individual assessment
Ntale revealed another pertinent issue that may answer the question why even the members of the KCCA squad that impressed on the continent and won the double aren’t spared in the botched trials stints.
“There is a difference going out as a team and going individually. Once there, you are assessed alone yet with a team you just fight as a group.”
Yet there is another crop that has earned the deals with clubs but hardly stayed there to see out their contracts like Brian Umony, Yassar Mugerwa, Khalid Aucho, Hassan Wasswa and Geoffrey Sserunkuma.“South Africa is a tricky country and it depends on the club you are at. They rush to make conclusions, they don’t give time, yet we come from different altitudes that require a person time to acclimatize,” Mugerwa, whose stay at Orlando Pirates was cut short, weighs in.
“That country is tricky and if you don’t have a good agent who can play football politics, you can’t last,” he adds.
Former TP Mazembe, Al Merrick and Uganda Cranes forward Mike Mutyaba, now a Fufa certified player intermediary, thinks fitness levels matter a lot.
“Majority fail because they are not well prepared from grassroots, some because of mediocre fitness levels and poor game awareness while others it is due to their body sizes,” reasoned Mutyaba, who brokered Hamis Diego Kiiza’s move to Sudan recently.
