Wananchi greeted to the top with violence

Violence returned to hockey on Saturday and for the first time ever, it feels like everyone in danger of being on the receiving end.

As soon as the final whistle of the weekend blew to end the edge of the seat encounter between defending champions Weatherhead and new table leaders Wananchi, both on 37 points but separated by goal difference, ‘fans’ from the formers’ camps stormed on pitch to beat officials. It did not matter to them that there was police presence at the pitch.

Johnny Nsubuga, a former goalkeeper of the side before he retired into their oldies’ side Historicals which also switched name to Titans this season, meted out his anger by slapping umpire Rooney Ahebwe then another ‘fan’ identified as Dixon took it out on table official Joshua Masawi.

Their case? Ahebwe had apparently made wrong calls during the match, in which Innocent Raskara and Jordan Achaye scored for Wananchi to send them top on goal difference, while Masawi blew his whistle in the midst of a penalty corner that Weatherhead had won at the death.

Maxwell Mugisha scored for the latter who failed to reflect on the two penalty corners they won in the final three minutes of the match.

It was even getting dark in Lugogo but Ashraf Tumwesigye twice failed to produce a shot on target to test whether the Wananchi defence was actually seeing the ball. Playing matches into the early darkness is another weakness on UHA’s part but its dangers can be reserved for another article.

Soft UHA

In the past, Nsubuga, Dixon, their ilk and players usually let out their toxic masculinity on opponents – mostly those that beat their side. But attacking umpires is an all time low form of indiscipline, which to be fair has been propagated by Uganda Hockey Association soft underbelly.

In Lugogo, some players double as umpires or match officials and that comes with its own challenges; mistakes, accusations of bias, revenge. It would be ideal to have umpires that do not play but that is still a far-fetched dream even though UHA have recently taken courses to schools. However, in the current environment, even umpires with hearts as pure as driven snow have no chance surviving this violence.

In 2019, players from Weatherhead fought their Wananchi counterparts after a 4-3 loss and UHA swept the issues under the carpet claiming “no one reported”. In fact some of those Weatherhead players were and are still called to the national team.

Recently, Collines Batusa and Rockets counterpart Ramathan Siraje hit each other with sticks mid-game. Competition secretary Richard Ssemwogerere banned them for three months pending a hearing in the disciplinary committee.

Before the committee could sit, UHA president Phillip Wafula, perhaps curving to pressure from his own club, allowed the two to return to playing. No wonder that in the heat of the Saturday madness, Weatherhead captain Moses Tushabe was screaming at him”you are the one that has allowed this nonsense to happen.”

When the committee later reconvened, the matter was retaken into consideration by the Awards, Honours and Competitions Committee which upheld the three months ban.

Karma

Weatherhead appealed to the legal committee, in which Ahebwe, who also plays for Badgers, has a teammate. The legal committee, in their wisdom, allowed the players to return to playing. 

However, the International Hockey Federation code of conduct allows for a minimum of a five match ban for acts of violence while the new Sports Act pushes for a fine of Shs9.6m or/and a ban not exceeding 10 years. Under Dunstan Nsubuga as president, UHA was more ruthless and banned players for such acts for six to 12 months.

Apparently, Wafula's UHA executive had not ratified the decision by match time, so Batusa, who turned up to play in the aforementioned potential title decider was stopped from taking part.

In 2021, Weatherhead Historicals refused to play games against Wananchi claiming Batusa, before he crossed to their camp, was violent and they did not feel safe playing against him. In 2022, he crossed to their camp and they now ‘fight’ any form of effort put towards curbing his indiscipline. Fair play to Weatherhead because they know how to exploit UHA’s weaknesses and indecisiveness.

In a classic case of bringing Martin Niemöller’s quote alive, UHA, which ‘kept quiet’ when violence was meted out at clubs has no one to ‘speak for it’ with their umpires now a target. Who will be beaten next? UHA executives? Spectators? Journalists? Definitely, someone will be.

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Men’s Results

KHC Stallions 6-0 Thunders

Badgers 5-2 Weatherhead Titans

Makerere University 0-5 Rockets

Weatherhead 1-2 Wananchi

KHC Originals 5-0 City Lions (walkover)

Men’s Table

Teams                         P          W        D         L         F          A         PTS

Wananchi                    14        12        1          1          106      12        37

Weatherhead               14        12        1          1          90        14        37

KHC Stallions             14        12        0          2          75        20        36

Badgers                       14        6          2          6          40        47        20

Rockets                       14        6          1          7          38        38        19

Makerere University   14        6          1          7          40        52        19

Thunders                     14        4          0          10        23        67        12

KHC Originals            14        3          1          10        23        61        10

Weatherhead Titans   14        3          0          11        24        78        9

City Lions                   14        2          1          11        12        80        7