We can’t build a culture on poor soccer grounds
Those who view the glass as half full will tell you that Ugandan football is crawling in the right direction. The federation has introduced an U-17 league, women’s football is being championed, more coaches are appreciating the need to earn their badges, the Azam Uganda Premier League is witnessing more corporate bodies joining clubs and lastly the Cranes took the monkey of Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualification off its back.
The just-ended Afcon in Gabon showed the world that Uganda is a gritty football team capable of stretching Africa’s best sides.
Basically Cranes flew out of Libreville without harming the small reputation of Uganda as a side built on cageyness. The team offered little going forward, Farouk Miya’s world class goal notwithstanding, but for long spells did a decent job of snuffing the famed offensive firepower of Ghana, Egypt and Mali.
God knows what our football culture is as a nation but certainly our strength lies at the rear where we have Africa’s best continent-based footballer in Denis Onyango and a plethora of options in defence and a defensive midfield.
In essence we are a difficult team to breakdown for anyone. Ghana needed a penalty, Egypt were lifted by a moment of individual brilliance by Mohammed Salah while it took a peach of a free-kick from Mali dangerman Yves Bissouma to breach Cranes.
Despicable surfaces
Yet whatever our culture or identity is – many other observers argue we lack one, our cause is not helped by some truly despicable playing surfaces in the country. We have cried ourselves hoarse over the dearth of football grounds in Uganda but the few that have survived or exist possess atrocious playing surfaces.
The core of the product called football is the coaches, players, the referee and his or her assistants, the ball, and then the playing surface.
We can debate the quality of our coaches, players, match officials and the balls. But we should not waste time debating the state of playing surfaces in the country; the pitches are in a bad shape.
There is no way we can hone the talent of tomorrow’s stars on surfaces similar to cattle kraals.
A case in point’s is Bright Stars’ Mwererwe-based Champions Stadium where the owner of the facility has done a commendable job in erecting a playground with a perimeter fencing and amenities around it to stage a Uganda Premier League (UPL) game. Unfortunately the turf betrays the best efforts of the designers of the Champions Stadium.
From the outside, the pitch looks like a typical Ugandan football pitch with sparse sections of soil and grass all through.
Hell experience
However, once you get the actual feel of the ground you worry for the players tasked to go through 90 minutes of hell under the excuse of playing a football league game.
You can hardly string together five passes because the ground is uneven. Most matches are bound to be an eye sore because the pitch cannot allow teams to build up play.
And then there is the ever-present threat of bad injuries as a result of the rough and bumpy surface.
Older players with stalled Big League and UPL careers would probably not mind hitting it high up for a route-one approach but young players trying to develop a career are affected time and again.
Building a culture of how Uganda will require, but won’t be limited to, young players being taught how to play a certain way on the appropriate surfaces.
It does not help that most of the country’s football grounds are multi-purposes arenas used for politics and entertainment. The challenge there is how to earn revenue from the facility without compromising the quality of the surface.
It is a dicey situation.
@mnamanya
