Our football clubs should mirror our tribal diversity to attract more fans
The biggest and most successful foot-ball clubs in Uganda are also those backed by institutions or individuals with bottomless pockets.
It is said this is so because the business of running a football club is no choir practice. I get that. But I also think it’s too convenient an explanation. Institutions and fat cats can take their money to the region.
For every KCCA, Vipers, Bul, Police, and UPDF, there could be Onduparaka, Mbarara City and Tooro United. Whatever socio-economic benefit there is in starting a football club, isn’t on-ly limited to Kampala.
In fact, I could argue that spreading out-side the centre gives clubs an identity, the lack of which makes many of our current clubs vulnerable. Even KCCA and URA must live with the danger of knowing they are one corporate decision away from folding. Just ask Tobacco, Coffee, or Bell. Express and Villa, too, have now bounced back.
But it isn’t too long ago that they were living on the edge. So, regional teams can become the extensions of their communities and the markets their sponsors seek, by appealing to the tribal instinct of fans. That would give clubs proper credentials. Corporate strategy changes.
Communities live forever. It is that simple really. That isn’t to say I expect a decree in-structing all regions to pitch up with a football club. But I believe local federation Fufa and investors can get creative with how they use their football development or investment funds.
I just don’t say this. There is proof, of concept. Sometime in 2016, the spectacularly named Onduparaka introduced them-selves to the nation in a promotion game against Kirinya-Jinja SS, another region-al team. Hundreds of noisy football fans clad in caterpillar green made the 16-hour round trip from Arua to Kampala.
Here they were joined by their cousins who abandoned their Arua park shops and together, managed to do what the traditional football giants had failed to do in decades – they filled up Nakivubo.
Right away one could see that this wasn’t just a football club but an extension of the tribe. I loved it and have written severally that tribal football might be just what it takes to endear us to local football once again – one regional corner at a time
I am not so naïve as to expect this to be the silver bullet for all our woes. A lot more needs to be done to lift the game, as is implied by the many regional teams in the past that have folded. Mbale Heroes Horizon and Masaka LC come to mind.
Schedule madness, biased officiation, maladministration, and financial problems all take their toll. But still I am convinced a team with tribal roots stands a better chance of weathering such storms than one without.
Onduparaka have their challenges, not least of all the second consecutive crick-et score lashing at the hands of KCCA in Kampala, early this week.
But it remains a proper embodiment of tribal-induced passion and longevity. It is the example we need. And without a doubt, a league that mirrors our tribal diversity would build a bigger fan base and tap hinterland talent.
Onduparaka is living testimony of this. Yes, we do have our tribal sensitivities and in appreciation of that we could make this regional, taking care to avoid trib-al sensitivities as it weaves its way from Kabale to Karamoja.
That, I believe, would be the best way to ensure Express, KCCA and Villa don’t remain big fish in the small pond of limited talent and dwindling fan-base
Email: [email protected]: @MBanturaki
