Sports can use its popularity to professionalise – Rukare
Vision. AUUS executives Vincent Kisenyi (L) and Peninah Kabenge (C) engage Rukare during the capacity-building workshop at Makerere. PHOTO/GEORGE KATONGOLE
What you need to know:
- The UOC has trained more than 2,400 administrators through the certificate, diploma and masters levels of sports management, under the International Olympic Committee.
University sports calendar is set for a return after two dead years. But the Association of Uganda University Sports (AUUS) wants to step up in their organisation levels.
To prepare for the new season, AUUS organised a training workshop for East Africa university executives at Makerere University.
Donald Rukare, chairperson of National Council of Sports (NCS) and president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, told the executives to step up efforts to professionalise their activities.
Rukare said university sports has coped well with its activities in the past but explained that the future requires a more professional approach including a good image.
Rukare, a human rights lawyer, warned of the rising risk of litigation, which calls for strict internal controls.
Calling for professionally run sports bodies, Rukare explains that there needs to be a regulator to ensure smooth progress. But he blames the outdated 1964 act as the biggest hindrance.
“We have to rely on internally created mechanisms,” Rukare said. “Some people say that we are trying to ring-fence positions if we put minimum qualifications in sports but we need to match sport’s popularity with its professionalism.”
He said it is only sports where someone who failed basic accounting can easily become the treasurer of a sports body.
“The fact that you don’t have national records, does that mean you cannot be a good administrator?” Rukare said, adding that sports bodies need to build capacity by training their administrators.
The UOC has trained more than 2,400 administrators through the certificate, diploma and masters levels of sports management, under the International Olympic Committee.
“We need to run our federations confidently by having competent leaders. No one is going to give you a billion shillings if they are not sure you will be able to manage it. This must be followed by ethical behaviour,” he said.
Major events
Ndejje has been selected to host this year’s national inter-university games.
The Federation of African Sports Universities (Fasu) Games will be held at Kenyatta University in June.
The games programme includes: athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, football, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, handball, swimming, taekwondo and karate in both genders.
Others are woodball, roll ball, goalball, sitting volleyball. In addition, Gurasumo, a Borana traditional game, will be included for demonstration purposes.
The games are a qualifier to the Fisu University World Cup Soccer 2023 for both men and women to be held in Jinjiang, China.
