Fufa admission of UPL failure welcome but using wrong approach to solve it 

Last week, Moses Magogo, the Fufa president, drafted in singer Bebe Cool to address Uganda Premier League (UPL) club owners on how to attract fans to watch league games.

On paper, Fufa was tapping into the dynamics of local music’s popularity to juxtapose it with football. On hindsight, however, it was a subconscious admission that the UPL has failed to meet the fans’ expectation.

I have been saying this for years and it is refreshing for Fufa to realize that the UPL is no longer marketable and therefore the need to bring a figure with a big following to address club owners.

However, whereas football and music are both forms of entertainment, you cannot copy one template and replace it with the other. Bebe Cool would have served his purpose if he was addressing fans but for him to ‘lecture’ club owners on football business is impossible.

So, the best Bebe Cool could have done is to be a brand influencer for the UPL. Club owners are not his fan base. The people club owners need to address them are the players through their experience on and off the field. As much as fans love their respective clubs, what brings them most to watch the game is the quality and brand of the game and in this case star players.

That’s why the likes of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo are followed by their millions of fans wherever they go. Unfortunately, the brand and quality of the UPL and The Cranes is going down due to poor governance. Today, even hardcore football fans may struggle to mention The Cranes skipper because there are no stars and it is one of the reason we can no longer fill stadiums during Cranes games.

Some years ago when I brought on board musicians like Irene Ntale and Winnie Nwagi to be Villa brand influencers, it did wonders mostly through their presence at club games and, most importantly, their social media posts because they have large followings. They didn’t even have to perform.

Besides, Villa also had star players like Umaru Kasumba, Vitalis Tabu, and Chrysostom Ntambi, among others. So, I believe using popular figures can promote the UPL by, for example, sharing their thoughts on recent games, make predictions about upcoming matches, or share highlight reels of their favourite players.

Overall, brand influencers have the ability to propel the UPL to reach large audiences and generate excitement around the country. By leveraging their platforms and engaging with their followers, they can help to promote the league and its teams to a broader audience.

Going back to the Bebe Cool ‘lecture’, the best the singer did of the meeting was to retweet Fufa’s tweet but didn’t make any mention of the event on any of his social media handles. That shows you how he also despised the meeting.

The author is SC Villa first vice president in charge of mobilization