Sports Facilities Series: Mixed fortunes as Lugogo sports hub dwindles

Before the late Philip Omondi shocked the continent, top-scoring at the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations with four goals (some records say three), he - together with the Ugandan team - trained from the area now occupied by Shoprite Supermarket, Lugogo. Defender Tom Lwanga, too, had most of his playing days on these grounds, training with Omondi before they flew to Ghana to proudly steer the Cranes to the Nations Cup final, which they lost 2-0 to the hosts.

This area acted as a sports hub for most of the nation’s best sports personalities in the 80s and 90s, somewhat still does, and attracted youths from all over Kampala, particularly Naguru city suburbs.

On the two acres-plus, where Lugogo Shopping Mall is enclosed, KCC FC owned the two former front pitches. The club used one while Bell and Pepsi FC, who boasted of stars like Majid Musisi (RIP), shared the other.

Talent catchment
Where Forest Mall stands, separated by about three metres from KCC’s Lugogo Stadium by a perimetre wall, were hockey pitches, handball and volleyball courts. Naguru youths used to come over here and try out all kinds of sport, including boxing.

KCC have, since Shoprite took over the front part, moved into their new stadium behind the supermarket – an area the club had a complex.

Kampala Rugby Football Club (KRFC) remains on their ground although they are also set to move after an investor bought it from the Rugby Union, while Kyadondo Football Rugby Club (KRFC) took over the ground formerly used by Spear Motors FC.

The Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA)-run pitch adjacent to Shoprite/Game supermarkets as seen from Kyadondo, which was formerly utilised by Uganda Airlines and occasionally Bell - is occasionally used by Proline Academy and other town teams for training.

The one directly opposite KCC’s - formerly used by Diary Corporation and until late last year by Water FC and Naguru Boys for training, has also since been taken over.

“Registered Trustees of Patidar Samaj are the private developers that have taken over the piece of land at Lugogo,” KCCA director of physical planning at the time, George Agaba, told Daily Monitor about the land where a perimetre wall has since been erected.

“KCC had allocated Patidar a piece of land on the Northern Bypass but another company, whose name I can’t recall, took it over. Meaning it had been allocated to two companies.”

Agaba added: “So the other company sued KCC and both parties agreed that we settle this out of court.

“A decision was reached that an alternative land be given to Patidar and Kampala District Land Board gave them the said plot.”

Notably, all five grounds in the Lugogo sports hub, including Kampala Rugby Union Football Club (KRUFC) and Kyadondo Rugby Club, are gazetted recreation grounds by KCCA.

However, this particular area of interest excludes the Cricket Oval, basketball, and lawn tennis among others, inside the National Council of Sports premises.

“Gone are the days, really,” said Lwanga, now Sports Officer at KCCA, his face giving a look of regret behind his desk at City Hall.

“East African national teams would have their preparations for regional tournaments on these grounds.

“Over four national teams training at those grounds was very refreshing and interesting. You can imagine – Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi...and others training at Lugogo.

“You watch one team train at one ground, turn left and there is another one, and turn back another.”

Shoprite arrives
While all that changed mid 90s, real danger loomed in early 2000s when Shoprite Group, a South African company expressed interest in the gazetted sports grounds.

Soon, they reached an agreement with government and KCC FC to use part of the Lugogo land for a mall.

“A South African investor (Shoprite) identified the land for development but we told them it accommodated our sports grounds,” shared KCCA public relations officer Simon Muhumuza.

“We then negotiated and agreed that they take part of it but that they would in turn build a stadium for KCC FC, among other benefits.”

Forty-two-year-old James Makanga, who was born in Naguru quarters, lived in Kyambogo and Kololo, and back to Naguru, remembers those lost grounds fondly.

“I remember as a small kid the same ground used to host First Division matches in the 70s,” he said, “The entire Lugogo stretch from UMA down to Katikati Restaurant were sports grounds, mostly football.

“On your left before you reach Kyadondo Rugby grounds from Nakawa, there was also a football pitch. But it has since been turned into a parking lot or car depot.”

The said ground next to Kyadondo Rugby belonged to Shell Sports Club. Shell now have a smaller football pitch behind that car depot.

Pressure, Industrial benefits
In 2007, there was a storm as the grounds were apparently leased by then Kampala City Council to Valley View Estate, to construct residential flats. But that seems to have backfired as Muhumza, the KCCA PRO, admits they extended the lease to UMA, who were seating tenants.

“UMA asked us for it and we gave it to them,” he said. “Sometimes you come under so much pressure and you have to give in.”

On the sale of land occupied by Forest Mall, Muhumuza says that land was under the Uganda Land Board (ULB), not KCC.

For Lwanga, a former KCC defender, Shoprite’s takeover of the two former football grounds can be understood in two ways.

“As a sportsman and fan, it was bad. We lost the two pitches since Shoprite took the bigger part,” he said, “There are not many open spaces in Kampala. And we have many youths from Naguru who need this space to do sport. It dissuades them from acts of indiscipline.

“But as KCC FC, we benefitted because Shoprite built us a home stadium. And as a country, many Ugandans are employed at the supermarket and government is getting lots of revenues.” KCC’s Lugogo Stadium recently underwent refurbishment, with modern dressing rooms set up.

Shoprite Group employs over 75,000 people in 15 African countries it operates from, bringing an estimated employment in Uganda to over 3,000 personnel.

Sport is culture
However, Lugogo recreational facilities disappearing with wind is just one of many stories that have seen a number of sports facilities in the country fade away, some out of outright negligence, others in the name of industrialisation.

A stroll at the said Lugogo area on a Saturday morning, you are greeted by five to 12-year-olds from Proline Academy training on the a roadside pitch, next to Shoprite/Game.

The late Omondi started like these children. Without football grounds, we would never have seen him, or the genius of Lionel Messi if Spain or Argentina didn’t take sport serious.

But increased pressure from government, who seem to develop goose bumps when an investor coughs, is not helping worries.

“There has been a lot of debate that these free spaces need to be put to better use,” shared Muhumuza, “But people need to relax and do sports.

“It should be noted that this Lugogo and Naguru area in particular has produced many legendary footballers. So they should be protected and made better.

Muhumuza added: “But on the other side, we need employment and industrialization.”

One would, however, argue that first world countries like Germany and England did not have to do away with sports facilities in London and Berlin to undergo an industrial revolution. Sport and industrialisation are like food and mouth, they need each other.

The English Premier League (EPL) is arguably UK’s principal cultural export - their Hollywood - wrote Daily Telegraph’s Jim White. In fact, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown once called it (EPL) “Britain’s secret foreign policy weapon.” What is Uganda’s?

Lugogo then and now
All five grounds in the Lugogo sports hub, including Kampala Rugby Union Football Club (KRUFC) and Kyadondo Rugby Club, are gazetted recreation grounds by KCCA.
· On the two acres-plus where Shoprite is enclosed, KCC FC owned the two former front pitches. The club used one while Bell and Pepsi FC, who boasted of stars like Majid Musisi (RIP), shared the other.

· Shoprite Group employs over 75, 000 people in 15 African countries it operates from, bringing an estimated employment in Uganda to over 3000 personnel.

Where Forest Mall stands, separated by about three metres from KCC’s Lugogo Stadium by a perimeter wall, were hockey pitches, handball and volleyball courts.

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