By Alex Ssonko www.sportznow.ug Guest writer.
This tournament is doing a commendable job, impacting Uganda's football.
Dissimilar to the Masaza Cup, one clan cannot buy players from another. This implies that people who belong to a certain clan will inevitably showcase their talents and probably open their way to the football world.
Some clans are even fortunate to have a few players that are already established: for instance the Mpindi and Mmamba clans with Brian Majwega and Patrick Kaddu respectively! These have a lot, the young upcoming stars can learn from them. Playing alongside, or against Patrick Kaddu is just enough to boost the esteem of a young footballer who might not have seen this chance, if it had not been for this tournament!
The organizing committee regrouped the clans that reached the round of 16 into four groups (each with four teams). This is laudable because each clan will have a chance of facing 3 different teams in a given group unlike in the past years where they could only play a single fixture and get eliminated. This provides players with a bigger opportunity to market themselves.
Uniting people of the same clan is another aim of the tournament. I can authoritatively say that this has already been partly achieved! People have willingly come up to support their respective clans. I can cite an example of the Ngonge clan members who massively gathered at Bat Valley and raised funds for their team prior to the start of the tournament. It's not by surprise that this team even reached the round of 16, yet one may not mention it among the most eminent clans in the kingdom. For the good of the game, everyone can help his/her clan with the little they have. A mere box of mineral water can mean a lot to the lads. Without funding, these clans' participation can hardly be realized.
Support is not limited to just contributing money, watching matches in the different stadia is of paramount importance. A good attendance of spectators in this tournament may even attract sponsorship from different companies and we move from the level of waiting for support from only individuals.
This year's attendance is so far better than that of the past, but we can still do better than this. Apart from the matches played at Buddo S.S, other venues are yet to register satisfactory numbers of fans.
