UBSA on spot as stakeholders reject coach award
Davis Nnono
A gargantuan-sized uproar has greeted the nomination of Buganda Royal gaffer Tony Ssebagala as the best coach in the recently concluded national beach soccer league season.
The protests were led by KIU coach Jeff Akabwai and reverberated throughout the entire beach soccer fraternity.
Many believed, St Lawrence University (SLAU) coach Davis Nnono, who aided his team to defend the trophy without defeat, was shoo-in for the diadem.
“The overall organisation was generally better until they gave Ssebagala the best coach award ahead of Nnono it is impossible. On top of retaining the league, Nnono made the finals of the Super 4 and went the season unbeaten,” Akabwai opined.
Ssebagala was readily available for a rebuttal and laughed off his ‘haters’. “Honestly, what would you expect from my competitors? They are right because the truth irritates them but for sure my team played better and I deserved the accolade,” Ssebagala told Sunday Monitor. For the second time, Buganda Royal lost the finals to SLAU on Sunday at Njeru. Nnono too was left dumbfounded how he came short of winning the accolade in an imperious season that his team had.
Team success
“I always focus on team success before individual awards. “I don’t know the criteria used for voting the best and maybe it is not all about winning,” Nnono stated. Uganda Beach Soccer Association (UBSA) chairman Deo Mutabazi says they trusted the decisions of the Technical Group study head Bashir Mutyaba who conducted the awards and asked the concerned parties to accept the verdict.
When contacted, Mutyaba expounded that it is not all about winning a trophy that guarantees one an award.
“We considered factors like the improvement the coach adds to his team, the progress of the team throughout the tournament, his behaviour on the touchline, discipline and the tactical information he passed over to the team on match-days,’’ Mutyaba expounded.
He adds that the rejection doesn’t mean that Nnono is an average coach because he won the award last season but an indictment to double his efforts.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
MVP – Baker Lukooya (SLAU)
Top Scorer
Ambrose Kigozi (Buganda Royal) – 33 Goals
Best Goalkeeper
Samson Kirya (Buganda Royal)
Fair Play Award
Mutoola
Best coach
Tony Ssebagala (Buganda Royal)
