Who remembers football prospect Moses Lumala? 

The name Moses Lumala is synonymous with motorsport. He ranks as one of the greatest to sit in the cockpit but few may know that he was also top-level footballer.

A few days ago, the grand football reunion on December 2 at Old Kampala SS grounds was not only a huge success in terms of attendance, but the occasion also unearthed ex-players who had not appeared in public for decades. One of those surprise attractions was Lumala.

Many younger ex-players from the nineties generation onwards couldn’t believe that he is a former KCCA FC and Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) midfielder. Here is a brief about his career.

FORMATIVE YEARS

Lumala was born and groomed at Katwe-Kinyolo. He started out as a midfielder at Modern SS, but it was his stint at the KCC City Cubs [then KCC FC Academy] that made him a hot property for the top clubs. The turning point came in 1983 when he was elevated to the senior side (KCC FC) by coach Moses Nsereko.

Nsereko was looking for his replace- ment and identified Lumala. He was athletic, brave and stoutly built like Nsereko himself. He also sported deadlocks and for this, Nsereko nicknamed him Bob Marley. At the time, Lumala used to eke out a living by hawking cassette music on Kampala streets.

But the club’s demands did not give Lumala enough time to concentrate on his side hustle, which he quit in 1984. However, Lumala remained a shrewd individual and never wasted time to seize a business opportunity when it appeared. He was renowned for selling the latest football boots to fellow players, a trade that earned him some good money.

CROSSING TO UCB

Lumala was in and out of the KCC starting eleven, and in a bid to get more assured time on the pitch, he moved to UCB FC in 1984. While there, coach Ben Omoding switched him to rightful back, where he performed well. However, the Bankers posted poor results and narrowly survived relegation.

In 1985, Omoding reorganized the team, and Lumala became part of the water-tight back four alongside Jimmy ‘Carter’ Chandi, Nafas Ouma, James Nkooyo and David Kalibbala. The Bankers also had top players like Robert Lusse, Chris Mubiru, Fred Serwadda, Holmes Mulindwa, Jimmy Sekandi and Mike Letti.

Despite some solid seasons as a stable team, UCB got relegated in 1987 and some players defected to other clubs. For Lumala, he decided to abruptly quit football. It was a shocker as he was knocking on the Cranes door, and many people had tipped him to be a future star.

He bounced back in the revived Bika football tournament, appearing for his Musu clan but that didn’t last long before he settled into business.

SWITCHING TO MOTORSPORT

In 1992, Lumala relocated to Japan, where he stayed until 1994 when he returned with a Toyota Levin Super Charger. At the time, motor rallying had picked up, with the likes of Karim Hirji, Sam Ssali, Jimmy Dean, Gerald Kiddu, and Yusuf Karmali leading the pack.

The pomp of the rally forced Lumala to convert his Levin into a rally car. In 1995, he started competing but lacked consistency. By 1997, Lumala had turned into a formidable rally driver and became a big threat to giants Charlie Lubega, Charles Muhangi and Emma Katto.

But this did not come easily; he had to sink in money by buying three cars: a Mitsubishi Gallant, Mitsubishi Mileage and the Celica 165. He sold the first two cars to Lubega and Katto and went for Jonathan Moi’s Celica 185, which was more advanced.

This worked for him and he won his first National Rally Championship (NRC) title in 1999, beating Muhangi and Lubega to the title. Caltex chipped in to give the newfound star a Shs 150 million sponsorship package. At the time, Lubega had a mega sponsorship from Total, while Chipper Adams was sponsored by Shell.

Lumala and his navigator, Moses Matovu [not the Afrigo band maestro], desperately chased the shadows of Lubega for the 2000, 2001 and 2002 NRC. But in 2003, Lumala was a different driver; he completed the year by completing all the events. The most interesting one was the last event of the calendar, the Castrol-Mogas Independence rally.

Navigated by Cedric Buzabo, Lumala went into this tension-packed rally needing to finish at least second to be assured of the title. His closest challenger, Lubega, led all the way to the podium but Lumala kept in touch to finish runner-up and walked away as the NRC champion.

EARLY RETIREMENT

After winning the 2003 NRC title, Lumala became disgruntled with his sponsors, not only with the package but also with his motivation. Just a few days before the Caltex rally in 2004, Lumala shocked the rally fraternity when he called it quits and never returned.

However, he continued to race as a guest driver on a few occasions, but he never returned fully to the sport. On December 2, 2023, he intimated to me that he might return to competition next year.

Such is Lumala’s unique sporting career that he did everything and left on his own terms. Currently, he concentrates on his businesses, including road construction, under his Nippon Parts (U) Ltd.

bzziwa@observer.ug