Rines happy to test new formula

Rines SS needed results to go their way on the final day of last season to keep in the Fufa Women Super League (FWSL).

Now coach Bright Nyanzi seems to be in a fight to rebuild his side after budgetary cuts from the school.

“We have decided to depend on school-based players,” Nyanzi told Daily Monitor.

“There were some disciplinary issues that informed this decision. We had players that were coming from out but whenever they did anything wrong, the community treated them as Rines students.

That hurt the image of the school and we had to start rebuilding. It was also an easy decision because the school administration looked at our rivals like Kawempe Muslim and Uganda Martyrs (High School – Lubaga) using mostly school going players and decided that was a better option than paying monthly stipends, match and training allowances,” he added.

Nyanzi was already not happy with the performance of some of his players at the tail end of last season and the influence of others like Dianah Nantongo, Amina Nababi and Harimah Nanteza on the team had reduced.

“I gave most of those last games to the young players because they had the fighting spirit we needed to keep up. They did not want to lose games because there would be criticism from their peers at school and that helped us a lot,” Nyanzi recounted.

Short upfront 

Nyanzi, however, insists that the team is still good enough even though goalkeeper Elsie Najjemba underwent surgery to sort an inflamed knee and will be out for at least half of the season.

“My role is to train and make the players ready for the competition. I believe most departments are ready but we are still struggling to score goals,” Nyanzi said.

Joanita Ainembabazi, who was growing from strength to strength and had endeared herself to the Kabaka Kyabagu Stadium faithful, joined the national team camp at the end of the season and that facilitated a move to champions She Corporate, who she represented at the just concluded Caf Women’s Champions League zonal qualifiers in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.

It left them short of options up front even though there have been encouraging displays in the friendlies against Lady Doves, Asubo-Gafford and Kampala Queens, which ended in a 1-0 win, 1-1 draw and 2-1 loss respectively.

Name: Rines SS

Coach: Bright Nyanzi

Home ground: Kabaka Kyabagu, Wakiso