Beach soccer franchise threatens to quit league
Loggerheads. Uganda Beach Soccer Association chairman Deo Mutabazi (L) and Isabeti manager Issa Asiimwe (R), pictured at a recent National Beach Soccer League outing in Entebbe, are no longer toying the same line.
PHOTO BY JOHN BATANUDDE
All is not well in the Beach Soccer fraternity. The Coronavirus sports lockdown apparently met a divided house that has now degenerated into leading clubs wanting to quit the sport over what they term as ‘administrative bias’.
On Friday, Isabeti manager Issa Asiimwe revealed they had finalised plans to quit the National Beach Soccer League for good, even though they still have an outside chance of lifting a second title.
“Ever since I declared my ambitions of standing against Anthony Tumwesigye (organising secretary) as one of the two beach soccer delegates in the Fufa Assembly (the other is Deo Mutabazi, the Uganda Beach Soccer Association chairman) my team has been treated harshly and that is why we failed to defend the league title last season and face fixture congestion this term,” Asiimwe told Sunday Monitor.
He reveals that as beach soccer clubs, they secured the Spennah Beach pitch to halt the hustle and cost of crossing the lake to Mutoola Beach in Mukono but UBSA administration maintains they can’t play from there.
But Tumwesigye dismissed the allegations and termed Isabeti as ‘cry babies’ whose tantrums won’t derail the focus on preparations for Africa Beach Soccer championships that is scheduled for December in Entebbe. “I’m not going to consider those petty issues because we are looking at the big picture which is Afcon in December. I follow the law. Isabeti is free to leave because it is an open market,” he said.
Asiimwe called upon Fufa president Moses Magogo who is also the Caf Beach and Futsal chairman, to ‘liberate the spot from the brief case state it is in at the moment.’
Magogo was not immediately available for a comment on the matter, but Fufa communications director Ahmed Hussein told Sunday Monitor that the federation president was aware of the squabbles in the game.
“Soon he is going to solve them. They (Isabeti and UBSA) all seem to have genuine reasons but we have to think about the grand tourney we are going to host,”Marsha said.
Aware that already two teams (Galacticos and MS Sand Lions) had quit the league this season, Mutabazi promised frantic efforts to reach out to the aggrieved clubs before the situation spills out of control.
“We are all not happy with the games being played at the distant Mutoola Beach but we strive to carry on. There are many other problems grappling beach soccer which must be addressed immediately by calling a general assembly,” St Lawrence University (SLAU) coach Davis Nono told Sunday Monitor. Buganda Royal tops the log as the league goes into the recess followed by SLAU with Isabeti occupying the fourth spot.
