Did lack of money force the call-off of Rugby Uganda Cup?

This weekend, an 8-team tournament pitting some of the top-flight rugby teams is expected to get underway.

Heathens, Kobs, Pirates, Mongers, Rhinos, Hippos, Walukuba Barbarians, and the Buffaloes are expected to clash, after the Uganda Rugby Union (URU) called off the Uganda Cup tournament, which had been scheduled to start on November 23 at various grounds around the country.

In URU’s official communique, they cited player fatigue as the reason the tournament was being postponed. According to Godwin Kayangwe, the URU president, some players had been active all year from the 15s league that ended in June, the international Sevens tournaments, the Rugby Africa Cup, the National Sevens Championships, and then the Elgon Cup with Kenya.

However, other sources revealed that the sponsors of Ugandan rugby, Nile Special told URU that they could only remit the next sponsorship money batch in February 2025 at the earliest. This left URU at a crossroads, as they reached a point of asking the clubs to facilitate themselves for the Uganda Cup.

Normally, it is at this time of the year that the clubs receive their allotted Shs 15m for the year from the sponsors. This is because the Uganda Cup marks the beginning of the new rugby season. But without that money, the clubs could not afford to travel to far areas like Western or Northern Uganda for their knock-out games against lower division teams.

When the aforementioned was put to Kayangwe, he did not confirm or deny it. But he said that URU has had so many activities to handle this year, which have taken up a lot of money.

Yet, the fact that clubs are organizing their own tournaments already, dispels the argument that players are fatigued. For example, when Heathens coach Muhammad Athiyo was contacted about the state of his team currently, particularly on players like Aaron Ofoyrwoth or Innocent Gwokto, who have had a busy year for club and country, he mentioned that they have had their “total rest” and are raring to go now.

That said, this raises a question: What will happen to the Uganda Cup now? The hope is that it may be played earlier in the year once URU gets money. But then, that will affect the entire calendar since the league normally starts in February.

On the other hand, if indeed the problem here is money, one wonders why URU blocked Guinness from being a part of rugby. Perhaps, the Shs 1 billion they had decided to inject in rugby would have come in handy now as a huge supplement.

jovi@observer.ug