Diana Murungi: Childhood dream to get Fifa badge

Diana Murungi, 27, from Fort Portal city is currently a Fifa referee badge holder since 2019 which she has retained for four years now working hard to retain the badge next year.

To become a sportswoman, Diana’s journey was bumpy, especially during her childhood  because her parents never never wanted her to join sports. Studying in Nyakasura Junior sports school, Fort Portal, Murungi was exposed to different sports. Today, she lives her dream.

She started her career by playing netball, Volleyball while still in primary and secondary. She went to Nyakasura junior, Nyakasura School and Kahinju SS for O’ level and Kibiito SS for A’level and joined Uganda Pentecostal University.

“For me to join sports at my young age was not easy, my parents never supported me because they thought I was wasting time, for them they wanted me to concentrate on books at times I would miss big games to represent my school,” She says.

Diana says while in primary six she presented Uganda at East African level in athletics to run 100 and 400 meters and she became the 3rd in 400 meters.

While in secondary she was good at basketball and netball and later played cricket the games she played up to national level.

Inspiration to become a referee  

With a background of sports from her former schools, Diana was inspired by different referees she would see officiating games at national level.

“I was a sports person but the passion to become a referee came into my mind while I was at national level representing my schools. I would see many women officiating the matches and I got inspired,” She says.

She says after Senior Six while in vacation in 2014, Kabarole District hosted a referee beginner’s course which she attended.

“After senior six I started asking people to share with me any information about the referee course and when I heard about it, I started saving money because my parents at times they were discouraging me, I attended the course for one week,” She said.

Diana says for her to attend the course she paid Shs 50,000 and fortunately she was the best student among those who attended the course.

She says after successfully completing the beginners referee course in 2014, the following year in February the FUFA appointed her to start officiating games at regional and national level. She was appointed to officiate post primary games in Mbarara district then.

“With many games I officiated, I got experience and my performance was always good and in 2016, I got a national FUFA badge which was the biggest achievement in my life,” She says.

Diana said in 2017, she was invited by FUFA to attend elite courses for referees saying that such courses are always attended by top referees at national level.

“To be an elite referee at national level it is not easy because you need to have performed well, these are top FUFA referees and I was among them, these referees officiate bigger matches like Uganda Premier league and I was the only female referee at that level,” She said.

She says she started officiating games for FUFA that include Women Elite league, premier league where she was an assistant referee and later became centre referee.

With her performance, her name appeared on the waiting list for referees to get FIFA badge for the year 2019.

She says before receiving FIFA badge, in 2018 she officiated East African games in Rwanda where she was assessed by international assessors where she performed well and was recognized.

To get the FIFA badge was in 2019 after she passed the physical fitness test and other requirements set by FIFA saying she was not surprised to get the badge because she knew at one time she would get it because she was always hardworking.

“I was not surprised to get FIFA badge because I was hard working and performing well, but also to get FIFA badge is not easy you need to work hard and it is not a must that when you get badge you remain with it forever, every year FIFA release names if you don’t perform well they take it away from you,” She said.

Diana currently is among six female FIFA referees that Uganda has and among the six and they are two centre referees among the six referees.

She is also the only FIFA referee with the badge in Kitara region on the side of male and female.

“I am the only person with a FIFA badge in the whole Kitara region for both male and female referees, I am proud of that and I want to maintain it,” She said.

After attaining FIFA badge in 2019, in the same year she participated in officiating CECAFA games for women in Tanzania and another CECAFA tournament of Under 17 for men in Uganda.

After officiating the matches, she went to Egypt in Cairo for two weeks for a new FIFA referees course where she excelled.

Upon completing the training, FIFA started appointing her to officiate Confederation of African Football (CAF) games and other FIFA games at international level.

“My first game was in the Olympics, the games that were played in Kenya for women where I officiated a match between Kenya playing Malawi,” She said.

Her progress continued in the journey as she started officiating international games that included World cup qualifiers for women in 2020 where she officiated the match of Burundi playing Ethiopia.

She also officiated the match of Ethiopia playing Rwanda, Burundi playing Tanzania among others in the same world cup qualifiers.

Diana says in 2021, FIFA appointed her to officiate games organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) a women’s tournament that took place in South Africa and she was the only referee who was coming outside that region.

“Most of the region tournaments, FIFA appoint referees in that region but I got an opportunity to be appointed to officiate matches outside my region that shows that my performance is good,” She said.

During the COSAFA tournament she officiated matches that included Eswatini playing Zambia, South Africa playing Namibia and Zimbabwe playing South Africa.

She says the toughest game of the tournament was Zambia playing South Africa, the match she officiated because all the teams had the best players in that region.

At national level, Diana has officiated FUFA games of different leagues that include Uganda premier league, FUFA big league, Uganda Cup, FUFA women super league and Women Elite League.

Challenges

Diana says when she started officiating matches, some people started despising her because of her gender but to date, it stopped because all people know her that she is an international referee with FIFA badge.

She said at times officiating international matches she gets a challenge of language barriers where some team players don’t listen to English and French which are the languages she knows best but says she has tried her best.

“People used to despise me at the beginning when I had joined but today, I have not seen it happening again, I have enjoyed this career which I do professionally,” She said.

Benefits

Diana says being a FIFA referee she has got many friends, travelled to many countries on the African continent which has earned him respect.

“I have many friends these days across the African continent, I associate with people more than before,” She says.

She says her parents who were discouraging her to become a sports woman, today they love him so much saying that at times they regret why they were not supporting her at the beginning.

“My parents these days are so supportive, because I have brought many medals at home, they have seen my achievements,” She said.

She says being a referee is not a daily income job but says the games she has officiated, she has earned some money to support her parents and do other income generating activities.

Because she was excelling in sports, from her primary to University she was studying for a scholarship.

Dream

Her dream is to one day officiate World Cup matches saying through her good performance and physical fitness, one day Fifa will appoint her.

Other business

Diana who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public administration and Management, she runs Heavenly sugarcane juice business in Fort Portal city where she makes juice from sugarcane where she employs workers.

She is also netball coach of Uganda Pentecostal University in Fort Portal, Netball coach for Fort Portal SS, Assistant football coach for Fort Portal Super Wazei Corporates.

Awards  

Diana says by officiating games she has won many awards and medals both local, national and international.

Plans to retain FIFA badge in 2023

Diana says every year FIFA releases a list of FIFA referees to get a badge which requires best performance, integrity, discipline and being physically fit to retain the badge.

“I have been with this FIFA badge for 4 years now and I am working hard to retain it for next year 2023,” she said.