Prime
UPL half-term report: Of guardian angels, imperiled champions and faulty whistles
Kungfu stance. Express forward Martin Kizza controls the ball over a Busoga opponent’s head. Photo/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
The spills, chills and thrills. The Uganda Premier League took a break, last week, with nine of the 16 teams having completed the first round of fixtures but as they prepare for the second round, they will look back at the first and admit it served more than the buffet they bargained for.
The 2021-22 StarTimes Uganda Premier League has chugged along slowly but surely as it entered into the recess. There have been superb goals, fantastic saves, some good moments, some cases of bad refereeing leading to some ugly scenes too.
There were 120 matches scheduled for the round, three postponed to February due to national team ‘interference’ and one abandoned.
There has been a familiar line-up at the summit with KCCA and Vipers leading all of the first round, as surprise packages of Bul gave a semblance of a chase, with Arua Hill riding along in their brand new bus. But Express crawled right back into the mix after a tough start to their title defence.
Champions at odds
Champions Express are third on the log and not doing badly but are definitely not exerting a commanding force like one who wants to retain their trophy.
Their start to the season was uninspiring, dropping 11 points in the first five games. Their coach Wasswa Bbosa faced an early suspension for an avoidable public spat with the club’s chief executive during that period.
The Red Eagles thrived last season by flexing out their direct challengers. However, they have only managed two wins against the top seven with some scrappy results over mid-table and bottom sides.
They have only managed consecutive wins against Tooro and Busoga United who are bottom of the table. If the Eagles want to retain the trophy, they must flap their wings harder and consistently.
Spiky claws, prickly horns
Arua Hill and Bul are proving to be hard nuts to crack. Under the stewardship of Livingstone Mbabazi, the Kongolo from West Nile sit in the top five.
They have attained this by adjusting their retractable claws that have torn through the big boys and the small ones alike, rightfully earning them the giant-killer tag. The Leopards have beaten last season’s top three teams – Express, URA and Vipers – hands down and sit just six points below the leaders, KCCA.
But they have been preyed on four times, their heaviest defeat coming at the hands of Bul, another team that has rightfully gained the dark horse tag.
Alex Isabirye has re-serviced the edible oil manufacturers into a fearless machine that has been scoring for fun. Their lead striker, Musa Esenu, is joint top scorer with eight goals, while Ibrahim Nsiimbe has added another seven.
Bul have scored 28 goals – only Vipers have a better tally. The team sits fourth in the table with 26 points.
Guardian angels
Just like the dancehall band T.O.K, Wakiso Giants had to pray to their supreme powers to send them a guardian angel after the first two games. The Purple Sharks received a baptism of fire into the season with a 3-0 pounding at the hands of KCCA at home and 5-0 away to Vipers at Kitende in their two opening games.
The club needed some help from above as Douglas Bamweyana resigned. Their help , however, came from inside as Bamweyana’s immediate former assistant, Alex Gitta, took charge.
Gitta has guided Wakiso from their turbulent start through a purple patch where they have won eight of his 13 games in-charge, losing only two. The 24 points return is their best tally at this point of a season.
The same can be said of Peter Onen, who has since steadied Gaddafi’s ship. The soft-spoken coach joined the Soldier Boys after their fourth game without a win and has steered them into 8th with 21 points, losing only to Express and Vipers in his 10 games in charge.
Villa far from redemption
There was a feeling that a new aura of freshness had engulfed Villa when they went young and brought in a youthful coach in Petros Koukouras to lead a clutch of talented cockerels who came through different junior national teams.
However, the new era started with errors, mainly in management. An election was meant to put Villa Park to order but the ballot was postponed several times. In the end, it never happened and former club secretary Omar Mandela took over through diplomacy.
His arrival beamed a ray of hope but the Jogoos seem to be near the KFC Kampala branch slaughterhouse than the top of the table. They have managed only three wins since then – against the lowest ranked teams.
URA filing late tax returns
URA faithful believed that they would have won the title had Fufa allowed a natural conclusion last season. A change of guard from Ssimbwa to another Sam, Timbe, was to ensure continuity and a firm challenge this season but it hasn’t summed up to much as the Tax Collectors have fallen behind in filing their own tax returns.
Only one loss in their 13 outings including wins over KCCA and Vipers could translate to a serious challenge but slipping into seven stalemates have reduced them to mere giant-killers.
Tooro all but down
A win over Mbarara City and a draw against newcomers Gaddafi is all Tooro United have worked for in 15 games. They have not just struggled, they have totally failed.
Matters have been made worse by their extremely bad financial position that has left them without a coach after the exits of both head coach Edward Golola, his assistant Stephen Bengo and a host of backroom staff due to non-payment and poor working conditions.
The club, apparently sponsored by an international betting firm and owned by Alice Namatovu, is in a total mess.
Dropping back to Big League is almost inevitable because they may just need to replicate exactly what KCCA did to garner 31 points in the first round for any chance of survival.
Elsewhere, the relegation battle is still open with only five points separating Police on 10th and Busoga United occupying the 15th place.
Faulty whistles blow ugly scenes
The season has been clouded by isolated cases of poor officiating and murmurs about match fixing. However, the referees have not been let off the hook as several of them have been sanctioned. Richard Kirangwa, Rajab Bakasambe and Lucky Kasalirwe have received short bans, while Fifa referee Ronald Madanda will spend the rest of the season trying to repair his faulty whistle.
Poor officiating and match fixing suspicion led to the worst scenes witnessed this season when Onduparaka fans forced their team’s match against KCCA to be abandoned. Fufa found Madanda’s refereeing levels below par, and binned him for six months. Fufa’s outlier verdict in the case raised further dust as to what exact rule book it uses to make differing judgements. Onduparaka had raised concerns of match fixing.
