Of Paul Hasule, Jackson Ogwang and why there’s no shame in losing against Rwanda

The true index of a fan's heart is how they react when the proverbial boot is on the other foot. A fair-weather friend will likely toss toys out of the pram, and do everything remotely possible to display an ugly side of fandom. 

As for the mature fan, there will always be something very restrained about them. In the heat of the moment, an odd number of them can be candid to the point of being mean. In fact, their candour can disturb the equilibrium in unforeseen ways. But when things cool down, they cease taking leave of their collective senses. They then proceed to digest news in a manner that is thoughtful if emotionally subdued and unemphatic.

Where is your columnist going with this? Allow me, dear reader, to put you in a time capsule, and teleport you back to 2003. Uganda is readying herself to come up against neighbours Rwanda in a 2004 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) doubleheader. Having previously edged past Ghana 1-0 at the Mandela National Stadium in Namboole, albeit with a scrappy Fred Okello goal, there are no prizes for guessing which team has the bit between its teeth.

Predictions before Kigali stages the first of the two contests have a common denominator. The Cranes are widely expected to win a commanding victory akin to the one Majid Musisi's predatory instincts engineered at Nakivubo in 1998. The task, however, proves harder than expected. Despite creating the most noteworthy chances, the hosts fight valiantly for a share of the spoils in a barren draw.

The blowback is almost immediate. Attacks against Paul Hasule, then Cranes head coach, grow in both their frequency and ferocity. The Cranes legend soon suffers an affront to his reputation when Fufa's top brass asks him to clear his desk. His replacement, the Ugandan football fraternity is assured, shared a locker room with Diego Maradona at the 1986 Fifa World Cup finals. 

Deeply respected, Pedro Pasculli is expected to hit the ground running during the reverse fixture against Rwanda at Namboole. A language barrier forces Maradona's former teammate to hold training sessions with what Fufa officials are convinced is improvised precision. The odds of success for Rwanda appear slim. Yet on matchday, courtesy Jimmy Gatete's first half smash-and-grab goal and the mood of impatience fears of juju trigger in Cranes players, the visitors pull off the most unlikely of wins. Namboole's mood is a moan of quiet agitation.

When all the dust settles, it is Rwanda, not Ghana or Uganda, that books a ticket to the 2004 Afcon finals. The whole episode casts a stain of incompetence on the entire Ugandan football fraternity, not just the Fufa top brass. It was after all the sense of entitlement tangible amongst Cranes fans that entertained the thought of dispensing with Hasule.

Where am I going with this, you ask again, dear reader? Well, this week, Rwanda took a historic win over Uganda in the ACA T20 Africa Cup. The Cricket Cranes, who are the tournament’s defending champions, made heavy weather of chasing down a slightly tricky target of 116 in South Africa. 

While such is the nature and style of T20 cricket that it lends itself to the possibility of upset results (Uganda stunned Zimbabwe the other day), one of your columnist’s friends was having none of it. They called into question the competencies of the Cricket Cranes's interim coach, Jackson Ogwang, who only recently guided Uganda to the World Cup.

The feat, per my friend, was the handiwork of Craig Williams. The Namibia cricket legend joined Cricket Cranes's backroom staff as a consultant for the entirety of the qualifying event.

My friend is convinced that the Cricket Cranes owe Williams a great deal of gratitude for pulling a rabbit out of the hat in his native Namibia during the qualifying event. While this is—in a sense— true, the outright dismissal of the smarts Ogwang brought to the table in Windhoek is as tasteless as it is misleading. 

In fact, it smacks of what Hasule was subjected to a little over two decades ago. Lightning should not strike twice. There is no shame in being bested by Rwanda. Above all, local coaching options must be propped up.