Dubious penalty maintains KQ's perfect start

Resty Nanziri tucked away her seventh goal of the campaign from a controversially awarded penalty as Kampala Queens beat Kawempe Muslim 1-0 to maintain a perfect start to the 2022/23 Fufa Women Super League (FWSL) season.

KQ never got off the races but in the 15th minute, Margaret Kunihira ran unchallenged into the Kawempe box then turned to cut the ball back to her captain Shamirah Nalugya but 14 year old Kawempe midfielder was in line to intercept.

Unfortunately, Nabukenya had led into the interception with her left arm before the ball hit her chest and travelled out of the box. Referee Alex Wasswa looked trigger happy and awarded the penalty from the faintest of KQ's appeals.

For Hamza Lutalo, it was a fortunate gift and one he was eager to take "because Kawempe gave us a tough challenge but maybe we have more experienced players."

"However, we want a perfect record since this is a short league, where dropping points can invite more pressure, so we must organize ourselves technically before our final match (of the first round away to Rines this coming weekend."

Kawempe coach Ayub Khalifa, said he did not "want to talk about the decisions but that was never a penalty."

"But I am happy that the players recovered from that and played even better. We lost but did so honourably," Khalifa added.

Coincidence or trend?

It is not the first time Kawempe is falling to questionable refereeing this season and their bench that was close to the Fufa TV cameras was very vocal about it yesterday. But at least there have been punishments that make their Kawempe's claims genuine. 

They drew 1-1 away to Makerere on October 9 after referee Habiba Naigaga awarded the home team a controversial freekick for their equalizer.

Sources say Naigaga was "quietly suspended" as she was not given a match for three weeks until October 29 when she took care of Lady Doves visit to She Corporate.

Tausi Nabiseere, who handled Kawempe's 1-1 draw with Asubo-Gafford in Kisaasi on October 29, is also yet to return to the stage after questionable decisions in the game surrounding two penalty shouts for the former, and adding three minutes of stoppage time in a match where Gafford needed over six minutes to treat their keeper among others.

Different punishments?

Ironically, referee Kevin Aweko, who cancelled what seemed to be a clear goal from in KQ's 2-1 win over She Corporate on September 25 has never been assigned a FWSL match since.

In that match Aweko also denied Corporate a penalty even though that handball did not make the official highlights reels from broadcasters Fufa TV.

FUFA WOMEN SUPER LEAGUE

Results 

UMHS 2-1 Lady Doves 

UCU Lady Cardinals 3-2 Olila HS

Kampala Queens 1-0 Kawempe Muslim

She Corporate 0-0 Rines SS

Makerere University 3-1 Asubo-Gafford 

TABLE

Kampala Queens       8  8  0  0 17 2   24

UCU Lady Cardinals  8  5  1  2 16 11  16

UMHS Lubaga            8  5  1  2 18 14 16

Lady Doves                 8  3  1  4 12  6  10

Kawempe Muslim     8  2  4  2 13  8  10

Olila High School       8  3  0  5  9 15  9

She Corporate            8  1  5  2  9  9   8

Makerere University  8  2  2  4  8  10   8

Rines SS                      8  2  1  5  8 17  7

Asubo-Gafford           8  1  1  6  7 25  4