Mayanja: It’s my turn to give back to Ugandan football

KAMPALA- By nature, Jackson Mayanja, alias Mia Mia, takes football as his best dish.
At 45,202 capacity Mandela National Stadium Namboole, where we met on a chilly Saturday, Mayanja camped with kids of the Mia Mia Soccer Academy.

Now that he retired from playing soccer in 2000 after spending two years in the South Eastern Coast of the Arabian Peninsula in Luwi FC, Oman; Mayanja would have perhaps been home watching a game or digging terraces in his retirement Shamba.
But nope! Mayanja preferred to be different. The former KCC (long before the club renamed to KCCA) midfielder acknowledges that while he retired from active football, which was also his main food basket, he remained an ardent football enthusiast.

Early beginnings
A couple of years back, Mayanja sat somewhere and the thought of a personal football academy crept in. Not long after that, Mia Mia Soccer Academy, which now has 50 children, came into being.
“This is the right time for me to give back to Ugandan football,” Mayanja, 50, starts as we climb slowly the high steps of Namboole.
“We started with a holiday program but today we even have weekend programs from 9am to 11am. By the way, parents haven’t disappointed me. They entrust me with their kids because even the fees we charge for training the kids are affordable and negotiable,” he adds.
The noise here is too much, with many other kids playing football freely this weekend.
“They normally come here and play football but they are about to leave,” shares Mayanja.
As he takes a seat at Burgger Nest Café inside Namboole, Mayanja - who was also part of The Cranes side that won the 1996 Cecafa Cup in Sudan - says his love for football is still fresh as welling waters.
He has just come from training the kids; Jeremiah Ataho, Solomon Kibaki and Daniel Kibaki whom he says all have potential to be like him.
If they all train hard and listen to the words of his tongue, Mayanja says, they will have a chance to play even in topflight league.
“Football has always been my number one game since my childhood. I started playing football while at Police Children’s School in Nsambya with the guidance of my grandmother Wilberforce Kwanya the rest has been history,” he shares.
Mayanja was born in July 1967 to Mrs Joice Nakafu and the late Francisco Ssekimpi of Lweza in Mukono District.
“These kids are talented. The reason why you see some football players struggling to impress in StarTimes Uganda Premier League is just that they missed a few things to learn about football as they were growing. These kids I tell you won’t disappoint my efforts,” adds Mayanja, who started playing for the national team Cranes at the age of 15 during the days of head coach Barnabas Mwesigye.
“I grew up like them. I was very passionate, very prayerful and ambitious as a devil,” expounds Mayanja, as he sips fresh water.
“When John Latigo and Bidandi Ssali took me to KCCA where I achieved highly as a footballer I didn’t know that I would become a star back then. But for them, Bidandi and Latigo believed in me. That’s what these kids should also do. Believing in themselves is the only key that will unlock their talents,” he says. He shares that because of his hardwork, he was even granted a chance to meet president Museveni after winning the Cecafa Cup.

Childhood idols
Mayanja grew up admiring former Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona, 58, also the current manager of Mexican second division club Dorados.
“Before 1986 World Cup, I was already motivated to play football. Maradona was my best, the same way I tell my boys to have players whom they admire. That alone will push them to work hard and improve on their skills every day,” he revealed.

Mayanja says, today he hardly sees players in StarTimes Uganda Premier League scoring perfect volleys. He ponders that many of them are talented but they seem to be in comfortable seats in the teams where they play.

“They don’t do much. The likes of Allan Okello, Patrick Kaddu can do more. Coach Mike Mutebi knows that.
“My friend, we played football. The level of technology during our days was poor but if you had clips of me playing you would’ve understood what I am saying,” recollects Mayanja, also the father of six and married to Fatuma Mayanja, who also stays in Mukono District.

Mayanja’s children; Brian Ssekandi, Dutch Mayanja, Atica Mayanja and Prince Mayanja, Adina Mayanja and Adam Mayanja all love football too.
“My son Adam Mayanja, five years old, also trains in my academy. He has to be a star,” signals Mayanja before the telephone calls interrupted the interview shortly.
Swipe at current generation
According to him, some coaches in Uganda have failed to reserve time to teach their players how to score such goals because most of them prefer teaching defensive game other than attacking.

“I normally tell these kids that football is all about scoring goals. If you’re a coach who most of the time preaches defending than attacking, players cannot be firm enough to score goals,” he says adding; my humble appeal to these boys is considering attacking football first.

According to Ronald Kibaki, 41, also a parent of Daniel Kibaki and Solomon Kibaki, all pupils at Brighton Junior School, Kampala; he brought his kids to Mia Mia Soccer Academy because at home, in Bweyogerere, they were always playing football.
“I knew Mayanja because he played football. One day when I had come at Namboole, I saw the kids playing football with Mayanja that’s how my kids too ended up here,” said Kibaki also a lawyer.

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