Is it the end of Jinja SSS dominance?

Before that, the school had been dethroned by Jinja Progressive Academy (JiPRA) in the Jinja District finals. JiPRA went on to win the double by beating Victoria 1-0 through a Richard Okello goal. Jinja SSS appealed at the regional level but their appeal was thrown out. The school appealed at the national level complaining of Victoria’s alleged use of an ineligible player in Reagan Budali and Saidi Kiirya Abdurahman. The appeal has not been decided.

From a school that broke the ceiling to become the first champion of the coveted football tournament in 2017 to back-to-back final appearances at the East Africa Secondary Schools games, many see that as a dip in form.

Nyago arrives

The arrival of Dinah Hope Nyago in 2008 brought with it a different aura to Jinja SSS. The school was known for indiscipline, and everything seemed to have gone under. The ‘Iron Lady’ or ‘Maama’, as many preferred to call her, set out to improve the school in both academics and sports.

Birth of Busoga United

Nyago didn’t spend long before showing her love for sports and implementing her policies in line with that.

In 2010, the-then head teacher of the school brought in coach Abbey Kikomeko to form a team that started playing the lower tiers in Fufa’s setup. The team was merged with Kirinya FC in the 2011-12 season to play in the Eastern Regional League, where they won promotion to the Fufa Big League in the 2012-13 season. Hassan Zungu, who played for both the school and club, is currently the school team head coach.

The year 2013 was both good and bad for Jinja SSS. While they had a team promoted to the country’s second division, they were as well banned from school football after causing chaos that led to the abandonment of their Jinja District schools’ football final with JiPRA. A rivalry that has since taken the ugly side, causing chaos and violent scenes in the City whenever the two met in all the other finals.

Jinja SSS was reinstated in 2015 at a time when the school team players were hitting their peak with Kirinya-Jinja SSS. The team, dominated by students, went on to qualify for consecutive promotion playoffs finals in the FBL in 2013/14 and 2014/15 but lost to KJT Rwenshama and Jinja Municipal Hippos, respectively.

They went on to guide the team to a direct promotion in the 2015/16 season and beat Onduparaka to win the second-division trophy.

They produced current Uganda Cranes players like Joel Mutakubwa (Gaddafi), Tom Ikara (Bul), Joel Madondo (Gaddafi), Livingstone Mulondo (Vipers) and George Kasonko (Bul) and South Sudan international Ivan Wani.

2017 triumph

Their first season in the topflight was a tough one due to their naivety but their experience came in handy at the school’s game!

The school was forced to divide roles in May 2017 to balance their chances; Kirinya-Jinja SSS was battling relegation and Jinja SSS was heading for the Copa Coca-Cola finals in Masaka.

Zungu was handed the school team together with Eric Kabanda and former Cranes custodian Hannington Kalyesubula as Kikomeko remained in the league. The club was later renamed Busoga United.

The team went on to beat St. Marys’ Kitende in the final to clinch their first and only title, as well as become the first school to do it outside the Central region. They won silver at the East African games that year.

Madondo, who later earned a move to African giants Wydad Casablanca, was the top scorer, while Wani took the MVP. Other notable players include Najib Fesali (URA), Joram Kirya (Bul), Kenneth Semakula and Vincent Zziwa (Bul).

Mugulusi and co

Bar from Semakula and Lawrence Tezikya, the rest of the squad moved into the league but the conveyor belt at the school was well-oiled and was promoting talent in the region and beyond. It brought forth players like Isma Mugulusi, Edrine Opaala and Delton Oyo. The trio guided the 2019 team to the final of the Copa Coca-Cola and East Africa, losing to Kitende and helping Uganda qualify for the first U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in 2019.

Mugulusi, Opaala and Semakula went on to graduate to the National U-20, where they took the Uganda Hippos not only to the first Afcon but reached the final in Mauritania in 2020.

The slump?

Covid affected the 2020 schools’ games at the same time Nyago was leaving. Her departure was bitter, in a way; Busoga United was forced out of the school with a section of the commentaries pointing to the new head teacher Isaac Balimusangayo’s lack of interest in the project.

The school team failed to pass the quarterfinal last year and then failed to qualify automatically this year.

Ironically, Victoria High, which eliminated them in the regional games, works in partnership with Busoga United. Their head coach Boban Ifan is the assistant coach at Busoga, with a number of players in their school team playing for the club’s junior team.

“They’ve been struggling since the administration changed and losing the club that they were attached to directly affected them,” Fufa Development Youth Officer Bashir Mutyaba analyses.

“We may need to sit down with them and understand the situation better because, for example, JiPRA is doing well because they have players in Bul and Busoga is dominated by Victoria.

“But I think they’re at a rebuilding process because when you look at them, most of their players are young,” he adds.

Jinja SSS is one of the eight Fufa schools of excellence representing the Eastern Region. The others are Kibuli (Kampala), St Henry’s College Kitovu (Buganda),

Mbarara High (Western), St Joseph’s College Layibi (Northern), Mvara (West Nile), Teso College (North East) and Kabalega High (Kitara)

Rebuilding

Balimusangayo says he is interested in all games but has a different approach.

“If you watched our games, we were playing very well,” he says, “what we’re looking at is improving the students from the school rather than buying players to come and play.

“I want my school to use pure students because if we fail to pick and develop from a pool of over 4,000 students, then that is not right.

“It’s not true that I don’t like football because at the moment, we have a junior team in place with three coaches hired to train them,” Balimusangayo adds.

A section of the old students want more;

“This is a big school,” Steven Mutaduba, an old student, tells Score. “We need to get the best talents, especially from the region, and give them the platform.

“We can build but we need to be performing and that’s why many talented students from Jinja SSS played up to the national team and earned big from years before I was born.

“We have been beating teams, even those that use mercenaries, because we had the best, so for the school failing to qualify is a big deal that only those attached to the Mighty school understand,” he spits out his bitterness.

Football at Jinja SSS is the number one sport and can evoke emotions. This reporter understands that police interviewed a section of students on Wednesday for an alleged plot to plan chaos after the school was eliminated.

However, on Wednesday night, USSSA released a list of qualified schools with the school included. Sources say it was after pressure but USSSA usually gives wild cards to schools that have been performing well in the previous editions but have failed for that particular year.