By
Robert Madoi
WEEKLY OBSERVER
He sat by the dinner table at Imperial Royale Hotel, his
green blazer making him look every inch the corporate figure
he is. The two trophies that local rugby governing body,
URU had given him were competing for space on the table
with his bottle of Tusker Malt Lager. Black Label tickles
his fancy, but on this evening the man local ruggers call
'Double D' was forced to make do with a lager.
Last week, it seemed like Ugandan rugby’s box-office
giant David Dobela alias ‘Double D’ was going
to make do with yet another forced change days before Saturday's
first leg Elgon Cup match against Kenya at Kyadondo. During
the aforesaid dinner at Imperial Royale, Dobela's forehead
crumbled into a frown when MTN Heathens forward Scott Olouch
was named on the national team, the Rugby Cranes' party.
"Have his nationality issues been sorted out?"
Dobela, Rugby Cranes' coaching director, asked his sidekick
- Yayiro Kasasa.
Kasasa nodded 'yes.'
But if Dobela thought that was the last of his worries,
he was wrong. Last week, an avalanche of things from the
just-concluded Guinness Rugby League last week snowballed,
and threatened to give Rugby Cranes' Elgon Cup prospects
a monster hand-off.
This avalanche is what forced national skipper Adrian Bukenya
to don a Kobs RFC jersey, jeans and snickers at the Imperial
Royale dinner. "I'm supposed to be wearing the national
blazer and all, but I chose to wear the Kobs jersey for
a reason," Bukenya said, his small eyes bulging behind
his spectacles. "We are not happy."
'We' in this case connoted Kobs. But why the heck would
Kobs be so annoyed yet they had just won a record 10th league
title? Kobs chairman, Arthur Mugweri shed light on why his
club was so livid when he sent URU an anger-laced email
last week.
In the email, Mugweri cited a number of "indiscretions"
that rival club G4S Pirates had committed and yet escaped
with impunity. Among the key issues, Mugweri surveyed the
match-fixing issue that allegedly had Pirates' chairman
George Mbalu ask Nile RFC not to honour their game with
Kobs. It is alleged that Mbalu did this to derail Kobs'
title hopes then.
Sources say that Mbalu and Pirates got a slap on the wrist
after the dicey issue was deliberated by URU's executive
committee. Mugweri wants Pirates to "be docked points
from next year's league competition", and "[Pirates]
officials to be severely sanctioned."
Other issues that Mugweri raised in his email to URU are
"the erroneous statistics" that were fashioned
to show that Pirates scored more tries than Kobs in the
2008 league.
Kobs is also perturbed by the fact that Pirates recruit
young "on the pretext that" they can use the move
to the club as a stepping stone to play for the national
U-19 team and also "get extra points to [join] Campus."
The issue of using Pirates-leaning referees like Ramsey
Olinga ("the assistant coach of Pirates II") and
Foxxy Ojiambo to officiate crucial league matches has also
left a nauseating taste in the mouths of Kobs officials.
It was against this backdrop that Mugweri decided to do
the unthinkable. A painful decision, he said, but one that
he needed to do to force URU into action.
"This kind of environment is not suitable for our players
to develop and play rugby," Mugweri wrote in his email,
adding, "Therefore; until these issues are addressed
comprehensively the players of Kobs will not participate
in the Rugby Cranes' assignments."
That meant Rugby Cranes risked playing Saturday's game
without the services of Bukenya, Victor Wadia, Edmond Tumusiime,
Timothy Mudoola, Allan Musoke and Tonny Luggya. All these
Kobs players command berths in Rugby Cranes' starting XV.
With fires stoked, URU vice chairman William Blick rushed
in with a bucket of cold water. "Let us sit and come
up with a way forward. We should be working as a team,"
Blick wrote back to Kobs.
They did sit down, Sunday. "Yes, we resolved everything.
Kobs players have agreed to play," URU secretary Paul
Nyangabyaki said. "It was just one of those unfortunate
things."
URU is said to have turned to International Rugby Board
rules - that forbid players from pulling out of their respective
national outfits - in a desperate effort to close the Pandora’s
box.
Thankfully, they succeeded. Now, Bukenya says not even
that sorry episode will put paid their Elgon Cup chances.
"We are good to go," the leggy skipper concluded.
madoi@ugandaobserver.com
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