Big League where parties, funerals take precedence

KAMPALA- Bitter Doves All Stars fans in Arua at one time during this season forced coach Anthony Bongole to step aside.

They are not alone. Naturally, fans are angry and their feelings run high especially when results are not going their way.

“That’s the downside of football,” said Badru Toko, the team’s spokesperson. “Fans don’t usually remember the old days.”

To offer perspective, the Fufa Big League is some hell for those running the teams. This league needs more people who are a beacon of inspiration.

It should not come as a surprise that promoted teams from the Big League start fighting relegation the day they are promoted. There are always in for a major culture shock.

Yet for many of the owners, Fufa have their ‘heads in the sand’ when it comes to a league that is second to importance in Uganda’s football system. No wonder, the Shs10m the 22 teams are entitled to by sponsors, StarTimes, is yet to be delivered halfway the season.

“Is this football favouring us? No. If I had a chance, I would speak to the people at Fufa face to face because some officers run offices like it is their home,” said Jonan Turyatunga, the sole funder of Kabale Sharp since 2012.

A league of part-timers
Dr Frank Ssenyonjo is among the core group of about 20 people who fund Bundibugyo’s Bumate United. Founded about six years ago for the cocoa growing community, the general upkeep of the club keeps piling each month on the shoulders of a few people.

“Most people are only eager to give money on match days when they are excited. If we cannot put the club on a sustainable footing then the future is bleak,” Ssenyonjo told Daily Monitor.

They fund basics like meals, transport, and accommodation and sometimes training fees. For the away games, players are remunerated between Shs30,000 to Shs40,000 depending on their ‘weight’ while at home, where a sizeable amount of people attend games at Christ High School, facilitation is between Shs50,000 and Shs70,000.

Most of the players stay in Kampala and usually travel for the game. Only eight players stay in Bundibugyo. Even coach Deo Serwadda, is a fulltime employee of Police FC where he is deputy to Abdallah Mubiru as well as Kyambogo, the reigning University Football League champions.

He usually drives to Bundibugyo, a 378km journey from Kampala, on the eve of the game and carries with him training materials.

Road tolls
Financial issues at most clubs in the Big League are at a critical point because of partly the longest distances. Arua’s Doves All Stars would have travelled more than 4,600km to honour the 10 away games in their Elgon Group.

The Rwenzori group covers the shortest distances but will require a Kampala-based team like Proline to travel more than 1,300km to honour their away engagements.

There has been substantial investment to make such trips happen by individual club owners.

Turyatunga, a local businessman, finances Kabale Sharp using some funds from the team van that plies the Kabale-Mbarara road as a taxi when the team plays at home.

Turyatunga’s ambition is to groom local talent. However, he said that life is hectic. Only the burning desire to see the club climb to the top tier keeps him motivated. He draws his players far and wide from Arua, Busoga, Kampala and Rwanda only 10 hailing from the area.

Without his funding to cover the salary of team coach Livingstone Mbabazi and top players, the club would be on its knees.

The team has negligible financial resources with cash ‘desperately needed’ for league management, rent of the Municipal grounds and for player allowances.

The CEO of Light SS, a school funded team in Soroti, Emmanuel Olinga, also spoke of the pains of financing. The team was started to promote the school but it now funds accommodation having bought off a former lodge, feeding and salaries. Other costs are met from the meagre gate collections and well-wishers.

Olinga said: “Ultimately we need money. Fufa’s agenda is to make football generate its own money but advertisers prefer teams in the top flight which can offer them more benefits.”

Weddings or football?
“I know you always want to try to think long term, but at the moment it has to be one game to the next,” said Kireka United’s sole funder, Norman Ssemwanga Kaboggoza, a local politician at Wakiso District.

Sometimes, they fail to assemble a full squad for even home games at Namboole Stadium. Some players obviously get injured while others could be suspended. Yet there are those that miss to attend to private matters like weddings or funerals. Actually, some of his players are deejays and could be having gigs.

“It is pretty hard to restrict anyone because we need them more than they need us. You have to put up with things that you would not in the Premier League. Players often miss training or when it is a mid-week game away and some key player pulls out. I have managed to keep my players pointing them to the future rather than what we offer them at the moment. Former player, Moses Oloya is a perfect example,” he summed up.

It helps to know the league
Mark Twinamasiko, the coach of Masindi’s Dove, guided The Saints to the top flight in 2015. He says the Big League and any football tiers below are unique.
“I understand that and I think that does help, because if you are a perfectionist you are probably thinking: ‘How can someone miss a game? How can someone go to a wedding when we’ve got a big match? How can someone forge an injury?’

“So you have to understand that it’s not the professional league. You have to work with what you have and sometimes compromise on certain things. Some players will even miss a game because their girlfriend just paid them a visit. Every coach in the Big League knows what I am talking about.”

Not all doom and gloom
That is not a problem Wakiso Giants have, thankfully, as Musa Atagenda Ssebulime seems to have the right players, coach, better organisation and finances for this league.

After a disrupted start to the season as the team was forced to host home games at Bugembe in Jinja, his main job now is to settle things down. He has a coach who knows all about the topsy-turvy nature of Big League.

“Considering everything we have had to deal with I am pretty happy, but our focus is to play in the top next season,” Sula Kamoga, Wakiso Giants CEO, said.

At the moment, all the 22 hopefuls are tasked with turning things around for a league that is tucked away in a quiet corner of abandon.

The Big League continues to be a huge injustice. All attention is on the money-spinning Uganda Cranes team and in some proportions the StarTimes Uganda Premier League, but for most budding football stars and those that want to keep in the game, it’s something like home.

Big League past winners

2009-10: Maroons
2010-11: Maji
2011-12: Entebbe Young
2012-13: Bright Stars
2013-14: Lweza
2014-15: Maroons
2015-16: Kirinya-Jinja SS
2016-17: Maroons
2017-18: Ndejje

Pioneer Big League teams
Bp Nankyama (Luweero)
Divine Waters (Apac)
Fort Hills (Fort Portal)
Gulu United
Jinja Arsenal
JMC Hippos (Jinja)
Kase (Kampala)
Maroons (Kampala)
Masaka Municipal Council
Mbale Heroes
Mbarara United
Misindye (Mukono)
Ndejje University
Samba Boys (Yumbe)
Sharing Youth (Kampala)
Utoda (Kampala)

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