Wananchi ladies win record seventh title

Wananchi women secured a record seventh National Hockey League (NHL) with two games to spare after a notorious end to their Sunday match with Deliverance Church of Uganda (DCU) at Lugogo.

DCU first of all started the match with four players and conceded two quick goals before their keeper and sixth player of the day could finish dressing up.

Some hearty defending and wastefulness from Wananchi conspired to keep the scoreds down. After the third quarter, six-man DCU were just 4-0 down and they decided to throw in the towel thereby having the controversy cloud what should have been Wananchi’s happy moment.

Visibly, the DCU players were tired after chasing shadows for 45 minutes but everyone felt their effort until that time should have been inspiration to see the game out.

Walkover or not?

DCU must have tried not to give a walkover as Article 7e of league rules and regulations says that if a match cannot be completed due to natural catastrophe or instability, then the final result of the match shall be the score as at the time of the forced stoppage if 75 percent (three quarters) of the match has been played. If less than three quarters have been played then the match is supposed to be replayed whenever possible.

“Instability” in this case is subject to inspiration for both teams. By the time DCU left the pitch, they felt they had honoured the fixture enough for the 4-0 loss to stand. The danger of the league endorsing this notion by DCU is that teams will start to abort matches as long as results favour them in the third quarter.

Wananchi were definitely not satisfied but the league decided that they take a 5-0 win meant for a walkover and jump to 34 points with two games to play. The dilemma is that those who scored in the match now have the efforts chalked off from their tallies.

For now they can celebrate their first women's title in three seasons after being toppled by DCU and Kampala Hockey Club (KHC) Swans in the previous seasons. It is also their 7th league title since inception in 2014.

KHC vs. HDF

Meanwhile, the battle for second place raged on on Saturday as Wananchi HDF (Hockey Dreams Foundation) beat Weatherhead 1-0 courtesy of Maria Nanyombi’s first half goal to go to 26 goals and +40 goal difference. But the Swans answered back emphatically on Sunday with new top scorer (19 goals) Winnie Alaro netting seven times and watching teammates Margaret Nassiwa, Joy Sserunjogi, and Pauline Ninsiima (2) get on the scoresheet too in an 11-1 hiding of Thunders.

Sofia Kabenyondo scored Thunders’ goal as KHC, also on 26 points, jumped to a +57 goal difference. Ninsiima was playing her first match in three months following a transfer battle between KHC and Weatherhead that started in July and was only settled a week ago.

Makerere University also beat Weatherhead Historicals 2-0 courtesy of goals from Rachael Atim and Judith Maria Nakikabi to jump up a place from 7th.

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Women’s Results

Weatherhead 0-1 Wananchi

Weatherhead Historicals 0-2 Makerere University

KHC Swans 11-1 Thunders

Wananchi 5-0 Deliverance Church (forfeiture)

Table

Teams                         P          W        D         L         F          A         PTS

Wananchi                    12        11        1          0          55        11        34

KHC Swans                12        8          2          2          70        13        26

WNC HDF                  12        8          2          2          55        15        26

Weatherhead               12        6          0          6          62        28        18

Deliverance Ch+        12        5          1          6          29        24        16

Makerere University   12        3          2          7          11        50        11

WHD Historicals        12        2          2          8          19        55        8

Thunders                     12        0          0          12        8          106      0

Men’s Results

Thunders 1-2 Badgers

KHC Stallions 4-1 Makerere University

Rockets 2-2 Weatherhead

Weatherhead Titans 2-1 KHC Originals

Wananchi 5-0 City Lions (walkover)

Men’s Table

Teams                         P          W        D         L         F          A         PTS

Wananchi                    16        14        1          1          124      12        43

KHC Stallions             16        14        0          2          87        21        42

Weatherhead               16        13        2          1          98        17        41

Badgers                       16        8          2          6          45        48        26

Makerere University   16        7          1          8          46        56        22

Rockets                       16        6          2          8          40        43        20

Thunders                     16        4          0          12        25        75        12

Weatherhead Titans   16        4          0          12        26        87        12

KHC Originals            16        3          1          12        25        76        10

City Lions                   16        2          1          13        12        90        7