HB ZZIWA: VEK wrangles led to the collapse of Ugandan football
Posted By Online Reporter at 12 July, at 12 : 46 PM Print
Hassan Badru Zziwa
In the second part of the series on how Ugandan football was messed up, HASSAN BADRU ZZIWA analyses how the bad blood among SC Villa, Express and KCC led to unethical practices;
The poaching game
By 1981, it was an open ‘war’ as both KCC and SC Villa jockeyed for supremacy. Express, on the other hand, was still regrouping after spending three years (1977-79) in football limbo.
Villa, buoyed up by the deep pockets of patron George Faison Ddamulira and Chairman Patrick Kawooya, went on a recruitment spree. They grabbed top KCC players including Cranes skipper Jimmy Kirunda and goalie Jamil Kasirye.
The Jogoos also invaded KCC’s academy (City Cubs) and lured Coach George Mukasa – who crossed with youths Joseph Kiwanuka and Joseph Semakula. Even after winning their maiden league title in 1982, Villa was not yet done; they poached more KCC players like top marksman Davis Kamoga and midfielder Steven Mpagi. KCC declared Villa a ‘hostile’ club.
Since they could not match Villa’s financial might, KCC elevated a couple of youthful players from its academy (City Cubs) among them; George Serunjogi, Joseph Sekitto, Charles Baker Masiko, John Tebusweke and Joseph Ndaula and recaptured the league title in 1983.
Soon after, Villa plotted to ‘finish off’ KCC. They targeted Kirunda’s successor as Cranes skipper John Latigo and youthful defender Yusuf Sonko. KCC retaliated by sweet talking Kirunda and he returned to their stable.
Enter Express
Express’ recuperation and reorganization also ended just before the start of the 1984 season. And from then onwards, it was the Red Eagles’ turn to re-emerge from oblivion, thanks largely to the cultivation of a solid fan base – the biggest in the country at the time.
They invaded both KCC and SC Villa’s camps and poached a couple of star players in 1984. Shaken by the return of the old bully, KCC and Villa temporarily buried the hatchet.They agreed to exchange unsettled players – Frank Kyazze crossed to Lugogo and Yusuf Sonko moved to Villa Park.
The two clubs further met and pushed football governing body, FUFA to give a directive that clubs representing Uganda in CAF and CECAFA competitions (as KCC and SC Villa routinely did) could not “involuntarily” lose any players during the transfer window.
The directive was issued at the beginning of the 1984 season as Express tried to grab Moses Ndaula, Dan Lutalo, Joseph Kiwanuka and Rogers Nsubuga (SC Villa); George Serunjogi and Charles Katumba (KCC). All other players agreed to remain with their old clubs but Ndaula and Kiwanuka decided to sit out the season instead of returning to Villa.
Despite the resistance, Express still managed to lure Villa coach George Mukasa and Lutalo to Wembley – even though the club remained bitter with Villa, KCC and FUFA. As a sign of protest, Express boycotted the 1984 league matches against KCC and SC Villa, save for the second round tie against SC Villa in Mukono, after FUFA warned of possible relegation should they miss the SC Villa game.
The Villa – KCC ‘alliance’ was cut short when The Jogoos recaptured the league title from KCC. They would go on to win five straight championships, thereby alienating themselves from the rest.
Death talk
Baseless rumours also came in handy to flare up tensions. In 1985 when Express coach George Mukasa was allegedly poisoned and operated upon at Mulago Hospital, Express pointed an accusing finger at SC Villa.
The same thing happened when KCC icon and then FUFA General Secretary Moses Nsereko was shot dead in September 1991. This time round KCC blamed SC Villa, ostensibly because the two clubs were wrangling over student player Sam Mukasa at the time.
To show their anger against SC Villa, KCC fans and officials boycotted SC Villa’s Africa Club Championship semi final match against Nigeria’s Iwuanyanwu at Nakivubo Stadium and instead made a procession to late Nsereko’s Bukoto-Nsimbiziwome residence for the vigil.
Then in June 1991, FUFA banned SC Villa’s influential skipper Paul Hasule for one-year on allegations that he attacked referee Fred Wanyama during a match between SC Villa and Tororo based UCI. This came just a week to SC Villa’s Uganda Cup game against Express. As a result, the absence of Hasule was felt when Express eliminated Villa.
Weeks later, Villa also lost the league title to KCC. Though Hasule’s ban was lifted a month later, Villa officials blamed rivals Express and KCC for their woes and vowed to hit back.
Match fixing
SC Villa came out strongly to win the 1992 league but its domination was increasingly viewed with envy. So Express and KCC went back to the drawing board. Come 1993, SC Villa was heading for its ninth league title in eleven years with one game to go. Sitting joint top but with an inferior goal difference, Express had a game in hand against KCC before facing Villa in the decider.
However, Express planned to boycott the game against Villa if they scored seven or more goals unanswered against KCC, a feat that would take them to the top by two points. By boycotting, Villa would have been awarded 2 points and 2 goals over Express under FUFA rules.
That still wouldn’t have been good enough to deny Express the title because Express would still have a better goal difference. Sensing they couldn’t achieve the feat, Express was forced into ‘cooperating’ with KCC at SC Villa’s expense.
The two teams therefore agreed to fix the match. However, they ended up miscalculating the score and KCC lost 0-6 to Express. The result forced Express to play Villa in the decider, needing a draw, which they did and ran away with the title.
This result set the tone for the later years as KCC somehow became less active in the animated trilogy.
bzziwa@observer.ug
Zziwa winds up the series next week with a series of events that left Ugandan football for dead
This article is powered by www.observer.ug
