ARUA HILL SC

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Arua Hill Sports Club formerly Doves All-Stars is a professional football club based in Arua, West Nile, Uganda. They currently compete in the Uganda Premier League, the highest tier of Ugandan football having attained direct promotion at the end of the 2020/21 season after finishing as table leaders in the Elgon Group of the StarTimes FUFA Big League.

Nicknamed “the Leopards”, the club was founded on 10th February 2010 by a group of passionate football teachers from Arua Primary School located in the centre of the Arua City, and played home matches at  Green Light Stadium in 2019 before moving to Barifa Play Ground in 2020.

The club was first named Doves United FC by its founders who were group of sports teachers led by Mr. Mwalimu Omar Bashir and Bosco Onama, who currently serve as adviser and Head of Junior Team respectively.

The team was strictly amateur affair created amid the belief that young lads could better be kept on the path of moral/ religious well-being through a healthy passion for competitive team games.

After only a year of enthusiastic play at Arua hill grounds, the club was renamed Doves All-Stars Football Club. “Doves All Stars” translated to mean “talented players flying higher”.

ARUA HILL FOOTBALL JOURNEY

Arua Hill Sports Club journey began from its participation in local tournaments which is a common practice in West Nile region believed to build togetherness among young people.

The team among others participated in the Christmas Cup, the Eid Cup and the Arua Cup where they won several trophies a feat that motivated them to register for the lowest division in Ugandan football (Div.2).

After maintaining the winning streak and good form, the club got promoted to division one (Div.1). In 2012/2013, the team kept its unbeaten record by attaining promotion from division one to the zonal league.

In 2013/14 another record breaking performance saw Arua Hill Sports Club gain promotion to the regional league with three of its players selected to play for Uganda U-17 side. In 2016/17, six players joined a top tier team Onduparaka Football Club based in West Nile.

The Club still maintained its unbeaten record in the regional league to finally get promotion to the second tier league of Uganda (The FUFA Big League) in 2014/15 after beating Koboko Rising Stars 2-1 in the West Nile Regional play offs.

In 2015/16, one of the initial founders of the club Bosco Onama decided to render ownership of the club to Counsel Nasur Buga. Counsel Nasur managed the club from the first season in Big League for three seasons before he decided to sale off 80% shares to the General Manager of Gittoe Pharmaceutical Challa Siva due to financial challenges.

In 2018/19 Mr. Challa renamed the club after the proprietor of the pharmacy, Mr. Aziz Damani, and then the club was fully baptized Aziz Damani Doves All Stars. During the era of Challa, Arua Hill spent two years in the second tier yet failed to earn promotion in 2019/20 season after finishing sixth on Elgon Group in the FUFA Big League. With financial challenges, the club was headed for liquidation and reform.

The club was consequently bought out by Joel A’ita Jaffer’s Development Infrastructure (DI) in August 2020. DI applied for change of name to Arua Hill SC and the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) made official statement in regards to acceptance of the name proposal on 15th September 2020.

To improve the financial standing of the club, on 21st September 2020, (DI) proprietor Mr. Joel A’ita Jaffer announced in a press conference an extension of a financial support of UGX 100M for the 2020/ 21 season.

In the same presser, it was revealed Arua Hill would be moving away from Green Light Stadium where they had been hosting the Big League games in the previous season to Barifa Play Ground  until the official stadium, Arua Hill Stadium is completed.

Before 2020, Arua Hill had been rooted in the second tier since 2015, but the take over by Joel A’ita Jaffer & Co, with appointment of new technical staff headed by Hussein Mbalangu in the same year  gave the club new momentum and under Mbalangu, the club finally earned promotion to top league in 2021 after five-year wait. After five failed attempts, Arua Hill were finally promoted into the Uganda Premier League after finishing as table leaders in the Elgon Group.

The Leopards’ successful campaign started on 25th March 2021, with a 3-1 win against Blacks Power at Barifa Play Grounds. Arua Hill would go on to register 3-0 win over Kataka at Barifa, 0-0 draw with Maroons at Prisons Ground-Luzira, 1-1 draw with Mbale Heroes at Mbale Municipal Council Stadium, 1-0 win over Calvary at Barifa, 2-2 draw with Gaddafi, 2-0 win over Paidha Black Angels in the first round.

In the second round, the Leopards knowing they don’t have to leave any game to chance, played a frustrating 1-1 draw with Blacks Power at the Emokori Grounds and 2-2 draw with Kataka at Mbale Municipal Council Stadium before straightening the bend with first second round home game.

At Barifa, they beat Maroons, and Mbale Heroes with the same score line 2-0 and repeated the same feat at Green Light Stadium where they made Calvary succumb to a 2-0 defeat.

They travelled away to Gaddafi where they strategically played goalless draw before sealing the deal in the final game with a 4-0 thumping of already relegated Paidha Blacks Angels at home.

Arua Hill amassed a total of 30 points, scored 25 goals (highest in the league) and conceded seven (minimum in the league) and finished the season unbeaten.

Season
Win
1
Draw
2
Lose
12
Point
5
Image
Goals
12
Goal Diff
-21
Goal For (GF)
12
Goal Against (GA)
33
Games Played
15
Sports Category
Year

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