Muhangi’s boxers, SC Villa stars cut out of same cloth

Besides having a desperate edge to it, the aforesaid reaction succeeded in convincing men that what we were witnessing was two bald men fighting over a comb. Look closer, though, and the flaws from either party are glaring.

For Muhangi, his gratification centred on the stumble of others was akin to a monkey that laughs when a fire sweeps across a forest it once called home. For Marsha, this was an uncomfortable reminder that Ugandan club football's lustre can only be spoken of in the past tense.

Even Villa fans, renowned for their passion, nowadays have little incentive to throw in their lot with their club. This is especially the case when a match is scheduled to take place at the same time with offerings from the much-vaunted English Premier League.

To further present Villa as an object lesson in resonance, rather than in direct influence, I will refer to what someone told me this past workweek. Which is: the Shs50,000 Villa charged for their continental cup match can be spent buying drinks all night at a watering hole screening European club matches. It is as simple as that, really.

These visceral fears over a better packaged and, dare I say, more entertaining product should spark more substantive change.

Given the dim prospects for and the uncertain outcome of any 'direct confrontation' with a glitzy European product, was it wise for Villa's top brass to make the decision it made?

Should the match have been pencilled in for a Saturday when The English Premier League was making an eagerly-awaited return for its latest instalment? Moreover with ticket prices for the Caf Champions League first leg encounter at Namboole set at a rather princely sum?

It is clear that the record Ugandan champions would have been spared grim visitations last weekend had a better thought process been applied to their belated return to the continent.

While Morley Byekwaso, the Jogoos head coach, must have been pleased to see his charges fight to the bitter end, a moment of clarity will show that Ugandan club football is plumbing the depths of self-destructiveness.

How else would you explain the recognition of the inevitability of defeat despite Villa playing host to Ethiopia's CBE?

Lest we forget, we are talking about a side whose distinguished pedigree counts two continental cup finals in the early ‘90s. That, though, is a blast from the past. The present tells us that Villa prepared for its return to the continent by parting company with its best players.

The final straw came when Serbian tactician Dusan Stojanovic threw in the towel late last month. Reports suggest that the Serb took exception with the club's top brass after bus tickets were bought for the team after failing to make it to the business end of the 2024 Cecafa Kagame Cup.

Stojanovic thought it appropriate that the club fly its contingent back home rather than subject them to a punishing bus trip. When this never saw the light of day, the already strained relationship was always going to end in a divorce. As indeed it did.

The Jogoos cite their illustrious past warily—perhaps defensively—as it clearly invites discomforting questions.

The questions centre around an old and festering wound. With its chief rivals having the distinction in recent times of reaching the money-spinning group stage of the Caf Champions League, Villa knows that it cannot keep finding solace in its rich past. New memories ought to be created.

This is the same headache that Ugandan boxing is grappling with. Boxing was, once upon a time, Uganda's most successful Olympic sport. Then distance runners from Sebei Sub-region happened.

At the recently-concluded Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, Uganda failed to field a single boxer.

Rather than laugh at the fire that has Ugandan football running scared, Muhangi also ought to ask himself some tough questions.

While the question of lack of financial support cannot be wished away, Muhangi should also look inwards in a bid to stop the rot.