Rise in hooliganism leaves Fufa needing more than sanctions

Organised chaos is back! Reads a league promo from one of the Startimes Uganda Premier League sponsors. But what has been clouding the news of late is nothing near to organised.

There have been major cases of fan trouble followed by sanctions of different measures from the Fufa Competitions Disciplinary Panel (CDP).

Are the refereeing standards deteriorating again, match manipulation or teams are just using the men in black as scapegoats for their poor performances? Do the endless sanctions and fines do enough to stop the vice?

Balance carried forward

Both the top tier and Fufa Big League seasons started on unusual notes; Onduparaka and Kataka were forced to play five home matches away from their regions, behind closed doors and with a debt of two points and two goals each for cases of repeated hooliganism witnessed in some of their matches last season.

To be specific, Onduparaka are serving a punishment for chaos in their derby against Arua Hill on May 6.

Kataka were sanctioned for chaos and beating up referees, Kyetume players and staff after losing 3-2 at the Mbale Municipal Stadium on April 28 in what was the ultimate promotion decider.

Additionally, their player Noah Kizito was also suspended from all football for a period of six months for physically assaulting Kyetume’s Baker Buyala.

More chaos

Last week, Villa hosted KCCA in Lira and they’ll host Maroons, UPDF, Onduparaka and Bul at the same venue before returning to their Wankulukuku home.

Their fans were found guilty of causing chaos in their game against Wakiso Giants by pelting stones and pouring urine at the referees on top of denying them access to the dressing rooms at half time as the Purple Sharks’ team doctor Keith Walusimbi was left nursing head injuries.

Busoga United survived a similar sanction but were dealt a heavier sporting blow by being deducted three points and as many goals.

Their fans and stewards had caused chaos that led to an abandonment of their match versus Express on November 16.

A similar incident will cause them a stadium ban, Fufa warned. Furthermore, the club president Dinah Nyago is being investigated by the Fufa Investigation Chamber for verbally assaulting Express’ coaches and denying the Red Eagles access to the dressing room.

Blacks Power were handed a lighter punishment of a sh. 1m fine after an unknown fan attacked the centre referee Dick Okello and took off with his badge during their 1-0 loss to Vipers on November 11.

The referees were also in the dressing rooms. The fans are not the only culprits. KCCA defender Denis Iguma was given a suspension and a fine of sh500, 000 fine for head-butting UPDF midfielder Ibrahim Magandazi during their game at Bombo on November 9.

Tweeps were not spared either! Former Villa vice president Ben Misagga is also under investigation for condemning Fufa on his Twitter handle for what he termed failure to tame the hooliganism and unbalanced refereeing.

They’ve also summoned Gaddafi to explain their social media post that read “loss at Kyabaggu Stadium after poor officiation.”

Collateral damage

From the above cases, one can note the varying measures applied to the different scenarios that almost look alike.

The CDP notes that they consider the gravity of the findings, precedents, club’s previous records and the need for the sanction to act as a deterrent measure when passing their judgments.

In some cases like playing away from home, the teams sanctioned are not the only victims, the Caf coaches’ instructor and Proline director Mujib Kasule notes in Villa’s case.

“The punishment the Fufa CDP gave (sic) to Villa, is not only a reprimand for Villa but also the teams who had budgeted to play them in Wankulukuku but now have to more than triple their budget for the same fixture. Why punish the innocent?” Kasule queries via his Twitter.

UPL chief executive officer Bernard Bainamani admits that there is a gap in such rulings and that it needs amendment.

“I think there was an oversight in that rule that needs amendment. The spirit of the ruling is to deter the fans but I think the concerned team should be forced to pay the extra costs that the visiting team incurs,” Bainamani says.

Facing the elephant

“I don’t think these sanctions are realistic and will cure the perceptions of what the federation considers as ‘hooliganism’. The greatest gap is addressing both the perceived hooliganism, poor match officiating and match fixing holistically,” Mercy Munduru, the head of marketing at Onduparaka shares her thoughts.

She adds: “You cannot address one and leave the other. More than two clubs can’t complain about the same vice and you don’t come out openly to conduct a thorough investigation and share the outcomes publicly. The league can’t continue like this lest fans completely abandon it!”

Bainamani takes a broader look. “To tackle the violence, we first have to identify its causes,” he states.

“There are possible causes, one which is failure to understand the implications of the hooliganism by some of the actors including club officials.

We can also ask why some referees are being suspended or banned so we can’t rule out the factor of poor officiating and match manipulation but that needs investigation first.

“There’s also ignorance about the laws of the games that are constantly being amended and then genuine areas like failure to interpret the rules even by the referees,” Bainamani tells Score.

Scapegoats

The chairperson of the Fufa referees' standing committee, Brian Miiro Nsubuga, is adamant that his referees are doing a good job but are being used as scapegoats by underperforming teams.

“The issue of refereeing is a scapegoat because these games are on television. We review the performance of these referees and when we find any problems, they’re punished but normally we don’t announce it,” Nsubuga explains.

“For example the Wakiso-Gaddafi game had issues and they (Gaddafi) were complaining about the penalty awarded, we looked at it from all angles and found that the referee was spot-on.

“We want stakeholders to pick the exact moments and address to us so that we can review because we’re here to develop the game but at least out of 60 games that have been played, you might find that people are complaining about two or three games,” Nsubuga argues.

Extras

What the fans say

Until the federation swallows its pride and tackles the causes, hooliganism won't stop.  It's not only among fans, players and club officials have joined the band wagon. There must be an underlying problem that needs to be resolved.  Let's stop this thing of telling whoever talks about the problem to go and study to be a referee.  Who will be the fans then if we all become referees? – Sophie Najjemba, vice president KCCA fans club.

There's a need to do proper safety and crowd control training for all clubs. Train the ring leaders, too because some are known and use them to sensitise the rest. Slap tough sanctions like season-long bans for players, referees, coaches and fans. We can also embrace video technology to allow referees a chance to review footage. I think it has happened before during a Mbarara-Vipers game - Robert Sebunya, a banker who supports Vipers.

Excerpts from the Fufa Competitions Rules defining hooliganism (Article 31.10 (e))

e) For avoidance of doubt, acts of hooliganism and violence may include but are not limited to any of the following;

i) The throwing of any object within the Ground without lawful authority;

ii) The use of threatening behavior or racist, homophobic or foul and abusive language;

iii) The chanting of anything of an indecent or racialist nature;

iv) Causing damage to, or interfering or tampering with any equipment, furniture, fitting or fixture within the Ground

v) Persistent standing in a seated area whilst play is in progress

vi) Smoking in any area inside the stadium;

vii) Attempting to enter the Ground or being inside the Ground whilst drunk;

viii) Being in possession of any intoxicating liquor, or bottle, can or other portable container and which could cause damage or personal injury when entering the Ground or in a public area of the Ground from which the event can be directly viewed

ix) Entering a part of the ground reserved for supporters of the opposing team.

x) The obstruction of gangways, access ways, exits and entrances, stairways and like places

xi) Invading the field of play to disrupt progress of the match by official(s) and or the fans that support the club during the match by colours and insignia of the club or by action of logic.