Ex-Proline players maintain bond with club

Proline Football Club is more like Manchester United. Their former players have a deep attachment to the club which noticeably lacks at many other football clubs. 

This is so especially down to the fact that for a club like Manchester United, breeding its own players from a young age was core to its values and as those players became superstars, even after leaving the club or retiring, the red blood usually pulled them back home.

Look at the famous ‘Class of ‘92’ of Paul Scholes, David Beckham, The Nevilles (Gary and Phil), Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs. To them, United is all they know. When the club was in talks with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to take over the Manager's role in early 2019, United’s ex players rooted for him and even when he found the job too difficult for him, many were just speaking in tongues to defend him.

Even players like Rio Ferdinand, who only joined United at the age of 24, feels his blood is more Manchester United than say, West Ham and Leeds, where he played before joining United. Same with Wayne Rooney and Everton.

Back home, Proline actually modeled itself around United in ways more than one. No wonder Mujib Kasule, the founder of Proline Soccer Academy (the roots of the whole Proline franchise) got easily attracted to the Manchester United establishment; from players to bosses. In 2008, his academy visited Old Trafford and Carrington, the heat beat of Manchester United. 

In return, Ferdinand visited Kampala and gave the project his blessings and his family’s; his father Julian and little brother Anton were regularly here. Manchester United used to donate merchandise to Proline; tracksuits, training gear and other stuff. The relationship was deep. 

A lot of water has since passed under the bridge and Proline fell off the cliffhanger but still fighting for its life.They have been relegated twice from the top tier and are now playing in the Kampala Regional League.  Yesterday was their chance to climb back to the Fufa Big League but fell 2-0 to Ntalungasanze from Mityana. Proline came into the match at Lugogo carrying a spender 2-1 lead from the first leg. 

But as day follows night, hope lives eternal and the men who started out as kids in the academy are now in charge of the dugout. 

"One Team. One Blood" was a famous slogan and a deep part of the Proline establishment during the time the team enjoyed its best times. Playing in the league and being the envy of even the traditional teams like KCCA FC, SC Villa and Express. The slogan was actually about unity, togetherness and being your brother's keeper.

Proline were the smartest team (wore imported matching blazers plus Manchester United tracksuits on matchdays). There was also that contract with Nike, the global manufacturers of sports merchandise. That means that players had more than three pairs of boots ready at any time, and the club had a steady supply of top class Nike training and matchday balls. 

It is standard practice that home teams provide matchday balls but back then Proline would visit teams and the opposition/host team insists on using the Proline balls. Quite unheard of, because, actually in Uganda, superstition goes deep. 

Before I joined Proline I had been in football for more than 15 years; as a ball boy at Villa Park and Uganda Cranes but most importantly, as a player at Jogoo Young, Villa’s famed feeder club (unofficial academy). But trust me, Proline was special. 

Because 95% of the players had started out together, lived in the same hostel (internally known as 'house') and some going to the same schools, they had been cultured to fit into the Proline culture. It is so special in a way that when you left Proline you felt at a loss and always wanted to go back. And the door was/is always open.

Players like Savio Kabugo, Simon Namwanja, Ronnie Kisekka, Ivan Bukenya and Yusuf Mukisa all made return journeys to Proline after featuring for other teams here and abroad.

Ten years since I left, I still find myself longing for the sweet old days and picking my phone to call my former brothers and have a laugh.
I think I've managed to keep away for good because I decided to look away from football altogether.

"One Team. One Blood" was much more than just the four words. Proline were not moneybags. They were actually a broke club for most of the time I was there. But players stuck in there because they had become part of the family. It is still family and like they say, you don’t choose your family. It chooses you, instead. 

Let’s look at the coaches.

In 2020, former striker Anthony Bongole was handed the senior team coaching duties, a task he welcomed with both hands. Senior players like Simon ‘Monie’ Mbaziira, Gift Ali Gigi, Ismail ‘Bajope’ Kabugu and Nelson Mandela came back to play. They were still in the Fufa Big League. 

Going to watch a Proline game meant bumping into many Proline ex players and bonding more and more. It just kept pulling you back in. When the team got relegated to the regional league, there were silent tears. Kasule looked around and the choices came aplenty. From former players, still. 

Richard Luyima, the combative and midfield worker bee, raised his arm. During his playing days, Luyima was like Roy Keane. The source of inspiration for all those around him. Not the most technically gifted but what he lacked in that aspect, he compensated with determination and hard work and discipline. 

Ask anyone that played with him and they will tell you he is the perfect person to lead you into a warzone in Vietnam. His leadership qualities and mature approach to issues made him a darling of many within the club. One day, I remember in 2011, the club was in dire straits financially. 
Luyima, part of the leadership group but not the captain, called an impromptu meeting in the center of the East Kololo training ground and made everyone understand where the club was standing. 

Even the few ‘difficult’ players left that meeting looking positive. The following day, Proline drew goalless with KCCA at Lugogo. After the match, one senior official at KCCA (names withheld) ordered that the gates be closed and Proline players be locked in until night.

Reason?

"These players from a club that doesn’t even have money to pay for this pitch on matchdays. How can they come here and embarrass us when we are fighting for the trophy?” he fumed. Proline were using KCCA’s Phillip Omondi Stadium base as their home ground.

Coach Luyima, Kamista and Gift Ali

As Proline targeted promotion back to the Big League, some of the people on pitch were doing it for the badge they have served for the biggest chunk of their life. Luyima’s assistant, Davis Kamista, is such a reserved man so much so that some of us who know him wonder how he manages to coach. Very soft spoken and gentle, Kamista was the opposite during his playing days.

Always the shortest player on pitch but controlled the game like no other. He worked his way up the Proline coaching ladder by first serving in the academy and now the second in command in the senior team. Kamista, very shy on and off the pitch, draws many comparisons with Frenchman N’Golo Kante. 

Gift Ali Gigi, what a player he was! He didn’t start off his career at Proline per se, but it’s at Proline that his ‘real’ career came to life. You see how people forget that David Beckham was actually born in London and played for Tottenham Hotspur in the beginning? 

It’s the same way people forget that Gift's first ever team was Arua Central which he captained as a 16-year old lad in the league before Proline snapped him.

And when he joined Proline, he met people with the same ambitions at a young age and clicked right away. Touted to be the next big thing in Ugandan football, injuries denied him that opportunity. He captained Uganda’s U-20 and U-23 national teams and also played for KCCA FC and Police, then took a sabbatical and returned.

Now in the evening of his career despite being a young man by all standards, he was in the Proline midfield yesterday, which he will undoubtedly admit was such a horrible day to see them remain in the regional league. 

Just below the senior team, other Proline old boys keep chipping in with invaluable support.

Former defender Marco Dennis Bigala coaches the academy. Simon ‘Monie’ Mbaziira, nicknamed Life Captain in honoring him for being the first player to ever wear the Proline armband, is also part of the academy coaching team. The Sakali brothers Wahab and Juma are some permanent furniture.

United beyond the pitch

You have probably heard, or will hear about the Proline Legends Forum and laugh about it because nearly all these people who call themselves Legends are in the mid 30s but retired from football for different reasons.

The bond between these players is indescribable, especially if you have been around Ugandan sport for long.

When their former teammate Ausi Kaaya passed away in 2018, it left many in a bad place. Kaaya was one of the most senior players in the team and full of jokes, he was also a source of inspiration to the younger players.

So, the Proline Legends Association got off to a start. They registered it and usually host get-together meetings, coaching clinics and offer inspirational talks to youngsters but above all, they want it to be a game changer in their livelihoods where they can pool resources and uplift themselves as one team that shares one blood vessel.

Hoping for the better as this, alongside many others, is another ‘first’ in Ugandan football. And true, Proline has always got to be the pioneers.