Here’s why football needs to go to the regions 

Back in 2016, Onduparaka was the toast of Ugandan football.

They had just joined the Uganda Premier League (UPL) and what made them an instant hit was their vibrant fan base. Their fans’ raucous support inspired the players to put in top performances and this turned their home ground in Arua into a fortress. The team quickly became the envy of other UPL teams because Onduparaka home matches were more than just football.

That season, I travelled with my Villa side for a league match at their Greenlight stadium and was awed at the buzzing activity around the matches. It was a market day, right from morning till late. There was an assortment of merchandise, food, beverages and even electronics on sale around the stadium.

It was like a carnival. During the match, I noted that one of the critical aspects about Onduparaka’s meteoric rise was the sense of identity and strong bond fans had with the players. Thereafter, I fast-tracked the idea to return Villa to Masaka and it paid instant dividends before authorities in Fufa ruined the progress.

When I bought Vitalis Tabu, one of Onduparaka starlets, at the end of the season, I was eager to find out the kind of reception he would get when Villa visited Arua. It turned out that he was an even bigger star playing for a bigger club.

Onduparaka fans packed the stadium to the brim and cheered him on throughout the match in spite of the fact he was the biggest thorn to their defence. Even when Villa walked away with a win, the home supporters took it in good faith.

Of course, with time, Onduparaka found itself losing several players to big teams and given the urge to compete at the top, they also found themselves buying players from Kampala clubs.

This is an understandable move but for some reason, it diluted the club’s bond with fans. That meant they could no longer groom as many home-grown players as they did before.

However, the recent emergence of Arua Hill FC as a force has reignited the football passion in the region. I’m reliably told that the Onduparaka-Arua Hill derby is the fiercest and most lucrative match in the UPL. I cannot wait to travel for that derby later this month.

What the two teams have mastered is the art of creating passion by blending football with economics. And it makes sense in all aspects and it is for that reason I advocate for a top-flight league that is broken into regional clusters.

Now, spare a thought to imagine if other regions had such competitive derbies. Put simply, having a weekly derby of sorts in every region would not only propel the game regionally, it would make for a wider pool to pick talent from.

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