By BA Snr
Dear Reader,
I am glad to have associated with you in this year’s National Soccer event concluded today, Saturday, with a 4:0 thriller between East African defending Champions, St. Mary’s Kitende and Masaka Secondary School, which ended with the the former being crowned The National Copa Coca-Cola winners of the 23rd championship.
Here are some of the moments with your attention, in case you needed a review.
1. Hill View Secondary School were the first to arrive in the camp on Friday 24th April. Unfortunately, they were shocked to learn that they’d been disqualified.
2. The biggest arrivals were on Saturday evening. By Sunday 27th midnight, a total of 58 schools from the 16 regions of Uganda had registered their quest to participate in the 2 week event!
3. A total of 8 playgrounds satisfied the technical committee and 8 groups were tactfully made, basing on the UEFA Champions League system. A group consisted of 7 – 8 schools, and only 2 would qualify for the round of 16.
4. The first eye-catching game was between Premier SS and Bulo Parents, a fixture the Bunyoro Champions lost 1 nil, and the first of the group of death.
5. For the record, the playgrounds were: Jubilee, Duhaga 1, Duhaga Boys, Duhaga 2, Duhaga 3, Booma ground, St. Johnbosco Seminary and St. Andrea playground. All groups would play from each pitch on a rotational basis.
6. St. Julian Schools belonged to a group of 8 and won all their matches scooping a whooping 21 points from 7 games.
7. The opening match, a group H fixture between hosts Duhaga S.S and Kakungulu Memorial School, would not be played till following Tuesday (a date set for postponed games)
8. On average, almost every team had a student from at least 10 of the 16 regions. The locally known as ‘Badokoli’ cut across most schools’ squads.
9. Teams that raised perfect performances had typically tall defenders, medium or rather short midfielders and tall strikers.
10. Ngora High School bus came with two of its region-mates (Kaberamaido and Moroto High). On return journey, the 3 westniler teams carried away a cool 61 goals. Moroto High won no game!
11. Muluusa Academy opened with a draw against hosts Duhaga. Their coach wasn’t happy with this and slammed a 24 hour meal-less training. This wouldn’t make any changes as the team still remained bottom of group H even after playing 3 games, with some teams having played 1.
12. Premier S.S. had the 13th player, the supporters. During its fateful game against Masaka Sec Sch, all the other fixtures remained without a single fan. It is even possible some players on the benches of other fixtures went to watch the battle.
13. Truth be told, Kitende didn’t have any worthwhile support in the group stages and the semis. In their 1 on draw quarterfinal against Amus College, the entire pavilion was booing it down.
14. Ryakasinga CHE and Kibuli S.S went a record-breaking high of 7 clean sheets! Each of them would go a goal down in the quarterfinals and find their way out of the tournament.
15. London College, Nansana had 7 of their 18 players disqualified on screening day after failing the aptitude. They’d play all their games minus a substitution.
16. St. Leo’s College, Kyegobe will regret an own goal when they lost 1 nil to Kitende. Had they drawn, they would have kept alive their hopes of joining other teams into the last 16.
17. St. Johnbosco Seminary playground was the supporters’ best ground. People loved the trees, east of the ground for their sexual clandestinity!
18. Masaaba went home the most excruciatingly beaten team. They went 7 goals down twice.
19. Kitara Model was the worst team of Bunyoro. They went 15 goals down in 3 gams. Calculated average of 5 per match.
20. Premier Secondary School in Hoima and Kigezi High School in Kabale would have done better save for the rules of the game. They’re disqualified from the tournament and subsequently banned for a minimum of 3 years minus participating in the championship.
21. For the record: St. Mary’s Kitende are the defending champions of the East African tournament, a trophy that has not been won by any other country in recorded 8 years.
22. Masaka Secondary School reached this final thrice in 13 years.
23. A total of 457 goals were scored in 192 matches. That’s an average of 2.4 goals per game.
24. Godfrey Baayo, the Kibuli striker netted a cool 10 of these.
25. The technical team spotted 81 talented players in this tournament. FUFA was given full detail to follow and gloom these young men.
25. St. Mary’s Kitende have a dribbler in jersey number 7. The boy is just a class above. He can do anything with the ball; his final ball, however, breaks hearts!
26. There was no single career-threatening injury. Good news for the game.
27. Adwari SS must have gone home unhappy with their god. They had physically the youngest boys in all departments, yet they’re seeded with muscular giants.
28. St. Joseph’s College, Layibi are just extraordinary. They’ve typical suits, jerseys as for European clubs: Juventus and Arsenal. They’ll play a physical game but maintain their uniforms smart!
29. Risah College had the tournament’s youngest player. Robert will be making 12 early next month.
30. The Coca-Cola team of 20 boys was selected and retained in the camp. They’ll travel to Nairobi next week to represent Uganda in the Coca-Cola East African tournament.
Note: BA Snr is a Facebooker at facebook.com/ambrose.bahigana