Akaanya seizing their chance on the table

Akaanya Pool Club’s ascent to the National Pool League has been remarkable, and at the heart of their progress is Jonathan Wamara, one of the team’s executives who has taken an influential role in the club located just a stone’s throw from the fabled walls of Luzira Prison.

Wamara, along with his friends and especially Dr Maxwell Ekwee Poro, a dental surgeon, have overseen Akaanya’s progression.

Formed in 2017 by revellers in Luzira, the team was elected to play in the national league this season which did not take into account promotion and relegation. Actually even the league champions, Ntinda Giants, did not participate as six of the 13 teams making up the league are new.

“Some of the founding members would drop in for a drink before heading home, while others played pool but many things were not falling in line. We had people, some corporates and other blue collars. But when here, we are all players,” Wamara said.

The players casually started contributing monthly subscriptions to be able to support the club, which initially survived on their weekly league.

“But the subscription was not coming as frequently as we had anticipated. We could not run the budget,” said Wamara, a banker with Stanbic, who joined the club in 2019.

“There was a bad history of members fulfilling their obligations. This subscription which started in 2018 was a pilot study to understand how to run a club. Truth be told, it wasn’t coming,” Wamara said.

He explained that to a lay man, pool is a simple sport but the cost behind it is humongous considering that teams are out of pocket. He said players’ welfare is key. This mainly includes feeding, transport refund, monthly perks, as well as refreshments almost every weekend.

“If you are not able to collect that money, it ends up not being sustainable. Even now we have to collect to prepare for long road trips to Tororo and then Mbale,” Wamara said.

Of the 13 teams making up the men’s national league, 11 are located around Kampala with Tororo Tigers at the Uganda-Kenya border and Mbale, the farthest teams.

Sowing the seeds

The work of Wamara and co. during the years when the country was under lockdown ultimately sowed the seeds for the club to break into the echelons of the game. 

The lockdown left players rusty and when the economy started opening up, the original plan was invoked. A couple of people committed personal resources to realise the dream of playing in the national league.

The team opened the campaign with three consecutive losses but Wamara thinks they were learning on the job.

“In the second game we lost to Royal Giants, but there was an improvement from the earlier game against Upper Volta. Financially, we collected Shs500,000 for the team.

There is excitement all-around playing in the national league. Those people that put in money are the main source of livelihood for the club. But even the players improved a lot. Eric Nagaba won all his four games,” he said.

The 41-year-old golfer at the Uganda Golf Union, Kitante, said they have planted a very good seed in terms of raising awareness.

“Now there is a reason for the private ‘investors’ money. Members are now asking what they can do to propel the team to higher levels. They are happy because the name has started ringing and they are proud of the team,” he said although he admitted it is not sustainable in the long run.

“A time is coming to reflect on how sustainable we can be to take it to the next level.

There’s still skepticism concerning our profile. We have corporates, businessmen, boda-boda riders, and a butcher. We need to figure out how to bring in more resources because at the moment it is a member paying the coach,” he said.

Wobbly start

The team was granted full use of the super league pool table by the owner of Akaanya Resto Bar, who is also the team patron. It is dedicated for training every Wednesday and matches. The team has 12 players representing in the PAU league.

It was a rude awakening as the team wobbled in the opening round. Wamara looks at the first game as a reality check.

“A guy could come on the team and finish the game in one visit. It was not a normal thing at our club. For us to play against them and get four wins out of 20 taught us. But we did not consider it a loss as we played against established players,” he said.

The team already had experienced players such as Nagaba, Ronald Kamwesiga and Allan Kayiwa but needed more steel. During the third game at home, they finalised Alfred Gumikiriza’s signing in time to face Club 408 in a televised game. 

The gamble paid off as they had picked an accomplished star who would now be in charge of the tense ‘route opening’. 

Gumikiriza won three out of four games as the team wildly celebrated their first win of the season. They would bounce back three days later to defeat high-flying Tororo Tigers with Nagaba and Gumikiriza winning three out of their four frames each.

“At first, there was fear. It was stage fright. The players were yet to put in competitive gear,” Wamara said.

The victories gave the team optimism.

“We like the fact that we are a family. Some of the players actually only get transport refunds for now. We’ve fantastic players and finishing in mid-table would be fantastic. We are at a stage trying to understand the dynamics,” Dr Ekwee, who plays rugby, said.

“But when we are in the top five after the first round, we’ll adjust our expectations and go for the big kill,” he said.

The plans are not grand but in the future, Dr Ekwee wants to see Akaanya demystify pool as a bar sport by allowing children and women to participate.

“We want to start catching them young. But we need to work with PAU on the mindset change,” Ekwee said.

Key to the team’s plans is polishing the discipline of the players.
“We are also instilling discipline. We need some sponsors but they are not going to come in and find hooligans on the table. We are strict on discipline to solve unbecoming behaviour as early as possible.”

Plans...Into the future

The management of Akaanya Pool Club might not have grand plans for the near future but Dr Ekwee wants to see the team demystify pool as a bar sport by allowing children and women to participate. To do this, they will invest in young players. They also intend to polish discipline in their ranks.

Akaanya management 

Patron     Eng. Immex Turyatunga
Chairman    Jonathan Wamara
Manager    Joseph Opio
Secretary    Charles Abila
Treasurer    Alex Mulindwa
Publicist    Franklin Atuganyira
Disciplinary     Patrick Ebeu
Captain    Denis Ssenyange
Coach    Alfred Gumikiriza
[email protected]