Mummy’s boy becomes face of Ugandan football

Byaruhanga’s story is one of sheer persistence. It is a tale that has taken him diligently to the summit of Ugandan football - with assured hope of bigger feats to come.

As a slender 10 year-old boy from Rukungi Village, Nyarusiza County in Bufumbira South, Byarugaba gave skeptics bags of laughter whenever he let out his dream of playing for the national team. Unofficial records had it that no Mufumbira had made the national team ranks and here was a little day dreamer.

Protective mum vs hopeful dad

Byaruhanga’s late dad Geoffrey Nzawonimpa had untold faith in his kid that he had the potential to achieve his football dream.

His mum, Flavia Nyinamahoro didn’t want her most loved boy to get hurt in football but gradually grew to appreciate his burgeoning talent - and is now his number one supporter.

“Our home was surrounded by playing fields and Byaruhanga was ever the first to arrive for practice.They would trust him with keeping the cones,nets and balls. In Kisoro, it is the girls that do house chores so the boys get a field day,” Nyinamahoro reminisces.

Born in a family of nine, five boys and four girls, it is only Byaruhanga and elder brother Robert Mugabe who played football. Mugabe quit football for business after captaining Our  Lady of Africa-Mukono in secondary schools’ competitions leaving the baton to Byaruhanga, the second last born of the family.

“I would leave Bobosi with a ball at five years and go to run other errands and he wouldn’t bother wailing.

 “At the tender age, we gave him freedom to watch his beloved Arsenal FC play accompanied by his youth coach, and the more he watched the more he fell in love with the game,” his proud mum says.

The dotting dad’s role extended to initiating a young Byaruhanga into his friend’s home area academy - Young Simba. It was at this academy that Byaruhanga linked up with closest pal Salim Abdallah (now a playmaker at SC Villa) whose dad Salim Brake was the owner and coach. Abdallah gifted Byaruhanga his first pair of boots since they had plenty at home.

“It is saddening that both his dad and Abdallah’s father died without witnessing the success of their boys. It also shocked us that my husband succumbed to hypertension a month after his pal Brake had died and was buried abroad,” Nyinamahoro reveals with a tinge of sadness.

While receiving the award at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Byaruhanga recalled the bleak and hopeless state he was in when his dad passed on while he was in Senior One at Standard High-Zzana.

The audience, like his mum near him, fought to hold back tears as Byaruhanga wiped away his.

“As a single mother, I want to thank everyone that has helped Bobosi achieve this success starting with Justus Mugisha (Standard High director who offered him the first bursary).

“I don’t know what to say about Lawrence Mulindwa (St Mary’s SSS Kitende director) because he has treated my son as his own from Senior three to-date,” she remarked.

Byaruhanga’s family is now a household name amongst the Bafumbira community in Kisoro and Kabale and that new-found  fame is one his mum and other relatives are trying to adapt to. “I arrived at  Munyonyo under extreme pressure. But because I’m a devout Born Again believer,  I had prayed with my church mates for Bobosi’s success severely  and I believe God answered our prayers,” his middle aged mum prayed.

She stressed further; “I watch all his league and national team matches on the StarTimes and DStV packages he subscribed me on.  I wish him steady ascendancy to paying leagues like the English Premier League.”

Shaping Byaruhanga’s nascent football career

Starting out at Seseme Primary School through St George P/S and finally at Real quality P/S, the family took notice of Byaruhanga’s football talent in P.7 when he inspired his school to win an inter district competition in Kabale.

“We applied at St Mary’s SS Kitende for a Senior One slot with his football certificates tagged on the application form but we were flatly rejected.

At Standard High, they rejected the football bid and took him in as a paying student,” his elder sister Agnes Nyiransenga recalls.

Bobosi would join the exclusive bursary class in Senior Two after impressing coaches Joachim Mukungu and Edwardo Kaziba. By Senior Three, soccer giants Kitende had scooped him and the rest is history.

“How I wish dad was alive to witness how Bobosi beat the struggle to become everyone’s darling and the best footballer in the country at the moment. This was his wish.

As a big sister, I’m proud to have a celebrity brother and I have also become famous at my work place (William Street  in Kampala) because of him,” Nyiransenga told this paper.

Discipline personified

Almost in unison, all the coaches  asked about Byaruhanga, his measured discipline as his cardinal trait.

When you interact with him at close range, you also literally feel it firsthand. He has this calm and collected demeanor that can get him a residence in a monk monastery.

“I remember Byaruhanga coming to tell me his desire to join Kitende but getting him a bursary wasn’t easy as we were rejected twice,” remembers renowned talent scout and Kitende coach Ronald Ssali.

“His burning crave to learn new things and humbleness pulled me closer to him. Though he was slender, he was fearless and could play in attacking, centre-back and right back.

 “I was happy when he proved doubters wrong  a day after his contested awarding when he rose up in the big game (against KCCA) and salvaged a point for Vipers.

“The last of his kind I saw was Edgar Watson (former SC Villa and Uganda Cranes midfielder), James Odoch (former Express and Uganda Cranes midfielder) and Frank Lampard (former Chelsea and England midfielder). He has made me a proud coach,” Ssali adds.

To his first secondary school coach Mukungu, Byaruhanga’s upward trajectory is just amazing.

“When I spotted him in an inter-class match between Senior One and Senior Two one Saturday, he was this naive, short on confidence and raw footballer. Alongside his  ‘brother’ Abdallah, they heeded to my advice on and off the field, see how far they have gone,” he said.

Mukungu’s boss Kaziba thought he had unearthed a rare midfield gem for his beloved SC Villa, only to be let down by a less concerned club management.

“Up to now it still hurts me that Villa officials did not yield to my advice to ensnare Bobosi. He was a special and versatile player that I took to Jogoo Young (Villa feeder team) with Abdallah hoping they would rejuvenate the club fortunes.

“That lad has the potential to make a mark in professional ranks if he doesn’t get carried away by the media attention and fame. The good thing is he listens to his single mum and knows his humble roots,” Kaziba, who has just left the SC Villa managerial role, noted.

Edward Golola, who integrated Byaruhanga into the Kitende star-studded team and gave him his Vipers debut is over the moon by his achievement.

“At first, I thought he was a defender and then his versatility swept me off my feet. I was a midfielder during my playing days at SC Villa and Express but when I saw this boy that plays a deep-lying midfielder like Cesc Fabregas (former Arsenal, Barcelona and Spain midfielder) I was awed and disarmed instantly.

“He was the pillar when we won the Copa schools tourney  in 2019 and I don’t regret giving him his Vipers debut immediately. If he remains calm and disciplined with the increasing fame and now car ride, Bobosi will shatter the glass ceiling for Ugandan football,” Golola, credited for the growth of many top league stars, opined.

Even on his sabbatical, former Uganda Cranes and maverick KCCA coach Mike Mutebi remains an ardent admirer of Byaruhanga.

“He is one for the future.He is so intelligent that you can play him in any position.If his coaches handle him well, Cranes have a new star to look to. We have rotated around the same players for the last ten years and now is the right time to trust the Byaruhangas,” he emphasized.

His Vipers coach Roberto Oliveira aka Robertinho, once remarked about his priceless asset; “Bobosi is at his best when playing closer to the opposition box and then tracking back to defend.”

Gacucu substantial model role

Whereas Byaruhanga idolised former Arsenal and France forward Thierry Henry, locally it was village hero Benon Nshimiyimana aka Gacucu. From being an exemplary player, Gacucu, formerly the Kisoro District football Association (DFA) chairman,  spared time to train Byaruhanga and Abdallah alongside the late Brake.

“I wanted to be like Gacucu because he believed in my ability and put me in teams of older boys. He was the best footballer from Kisoro by far,” Byaruhanga says.

Gacucu reciprocates the favour arguing it is time the entire nation started taking Kisoro region seriously in regards to football development.

“I’m noted surprised at all with whatever Bobosi is winning. The late Brake trained him alongside other veteran players and he always encouraged them to work hard, and achieve big from football,” Gacucu adds.

To him, the two souls of Brake and Nzawonimpa can now rest peacefully after seeing the sweat of their efforts produce two national team players - Byaruhanga and Abdallah, the pride of Kisoro.

 From a distance, Gacucu, a Fufa Level One coach, continues to guide and monitor the duo, not to lose focus so that they can inspire more upcoming stars.

Cementing Cranes slot, silencing doubters

For now, the budding midfielder is a sure-deal starter in Robertinho’s Vipers and Micho Sredojevic’s Uganda Cranes.

“That comes with added pressure to work extremely hard. As coaches Abdallah Mubiru, Golola and Micho told me, Uganda, like Brazil, has many gifted footballers and any laxity can cost me dearly and be forgotten in a minute,” he stated.

He says that facing European based players while playing six matches for the national team gave him renewed belief that he is not far away from his grand dream.

He has learned to handle pressure, especially as he navigates through the current storm of critics that believe that it was Express forward Eric Kambale, not him, that should have cruised away the Subaru N14.

“I’m a firm believer in Jesus Christ miracles.I pray from Good Mission Church with Pastor David Muganda in Kisoro. I asked God that if the award is mine, let it be. I want to go professional football soon and fend for my family because we are not well off.”

Byaruhanga at times lets his actions do the most of the speaking. With Vipers trailing 2-1 in a pulsating league encounter with arch-rivals and log leaders KCCA at St Mary’s Stadium-Kitende and a taunting blare from the visiting fans targeted at the star of the moment, he showed his true colours.

He pounced on a dropping ball cleared by KCCA defender Geoffrey Wasswa from 25 yards out, superbly controlled it before unleashing a screamer that kissed the woodwork before crossing the line for the score to read 2-2.

“I had tried shooting at goal three times and wasn’t scoring but I didn’t give up. I had seen the goalkeeper (former Vipers colleague Derrick Ochan) was off the line so I decided to give it a final try. Mind you, that is the same goal mouth that I practice often during training sessions so I know it inside out.I’m glad I silenced them.”

Mulindwa, the generous ‘father’

If anyone believed in Byaruhanga winning the grand accolade, it was St Mary’s SS Kitende proprietor Mulindwa.  “He regularly tells me to stay focussed and  that football will pay me back.He promised to support me in every endeavour.”

 Byaruhanga is confident that this year’s league trophy is Vipers’ to lose even when they still trail KCCA. The players are driven by the determined will to reward Mulindwa for  his ‘generosity’ during the pandemic bite

Having honed his driving skills using his mother’s Kluger back in the village, Byaruhanga’s next immediate task is a compelling one, apply for a driving permit, and start the dream of cruising around the capital city.

Earning business degree vs professional dream

Before the Covid19 pandemic set in two years ago, Byaruhanga had just received his UACE  results after finishing Senior Six in 2019.

He says he scored 10 points from the HDI combination of History, Divinity and ICT subjects and like most of his sisters he wanted to venture into business.

 “I still have a dream of applying for a Bachelors of Business Adminstration at Mubs when the education system fully reopens. I’m inspired by my close friend Paul Mucureezi (Vipers forward with a Bachelors of Procurement and Logistics from UCU) ,” Byaruhanga promised.

With his two principal passes, Byaruhanga says he will seek guidance from Dr Mulindwa and his son, Steven Mulindwa, also the club general manager, about balancing books and soccer.

Back in February as Byaruhanga and co. surprised African giants at the Afcon U-20 tourney in the Mauritanian coastal capital of Nouakchott, many European scouts were watching and they indeed made advances.

“Since I don’t have any agent, many team scouts from Portugal and Turkey contacted me directly but Vipers advised me to stay put because they still needed me. They told me I will move at the right time and right cost. Since all the past Fufa award winners have moved to paid ranks, I believe my time is now nigh,” Byaruhanga shifting in his couch, revealed during the lengthy interview in Busabala, at his sister’s swanky abode.