Creative Decisions Would Make Uganda Premier League Competitive

  The 2015-16 Azam Uganda Premier League (AUPL) season concluded on Friday 28^th May 2016. The highlights were; KCCA FC winning its eleventh league title, U.R.A FC striker Robert Sentongo was the top score with 18 league goals, Sports Club Victoria University, Simba FC plus Maroons FC were relegated and that’s all, YES YOU READ IT RIGHT, that’s all that happened. 
  Sports journalists, UPL administrators and competitions committee officials at FUFA will give you a list of more highlights including another one that KCCA FC won just three of their last eight games before clinching the title with a 1-1 draw against cross city rivals Express FC (championship winning form in a non-competitive league) 
  To an ordinary football fan in Uganda, getting to know the champion, relegated teams and KCCA’s form before winning the league title would be news, one out of 20,000 football fans in Uganda would be able to tell the three mentioned highlights. 
  That the AUPL lacks competitiveness is not news anymore, without competitiveness it’s very hard for the media to have good stories to report about Ugandan football, without good media coverage it’s very hard to attract fans into the stadiums, without fans clubs cant have good sources of revenue, without good revenue for clubs there's no money, that's the cycle and story of the AUPL.

KCCA FC's Muzamil Mutyaba celebrates with team mate Paul Mucureezi the equalizing goal that clinched the title

16 TEAMS IS A CROWD FOR A LEAGUE THAT'S STRUGGLING WITH LOW QUALITY FOOTBALL

  The standard of our football is still very low. What is the justification for having sixteen teams in our league? The number of teams in the AUPL should be gradually reduced from 16 to 12 teams. With fewer teams in a league, the sporting gap between teams is reduced, this increases competitiveness, 
   The Scottish Premiership has an incredibly creative 12 team league system designed to make it very competitive and at the same time increase the number of games played (just in case you were worried at the number of games played in a 12 team league). 
  These twelve teams play each opponent three times to make 33 games then after that part the league gets split into half, the top six teams compete for the trophy in a championship league while the bottom six fight to avoid relegation by playing a further five games. 
  By the end of the league its 38 games played. How competitive is it to make it into the top six? Does it make the SPL competitive? Definitely yes, because there’s a lot more to play for.

  Vipers and KCCA FC battled for the AUPL title until it was decided on match day 29. Those two teams will confess to the league's competitiveness because they had something to play for but I wonder what JMC Hippos, Lweza FC, Bright Stars, Soana FC, Police FC, Sadolin FC and Bul FC (yes, those are the teams we have in the AUPL) had to play for the moment they realized that they couldn’t be relegated. 
  I can also imagine what they would have to play for if the AUPL had a top eight tournament, a cash prize breakdown based on merit or any other creative idea designed to make the league competitive.

Farouk Miya of Standard Liege: the Belgian Jupiler has a creative league system designed to make it more competitive

WHAT DO CLUBS COMPETE FOR IN THE AUPL? 

  Imagine going for a 100 meter race against Usain Bolt and a samurai wrestler. Before the start of the race you all get paid a flat appearance fee of 100,000 United States Dollars, the only thing on your mind would be not to finish last then go home and enjoy your earnings. Would the race be competitive? I highly doubt because it will turn out as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. 
  That is the exact setting of the AUPL, at the start of the season each team is guaranteed to earn 50 million Uganda shillings from league broadcasters Azam Television and that’s it.

  The English Premier League prize payment breakdown is very creative, it brings out the most competitive edge in each team. 50% of the sponsorship fee is equally shared among all 20 teams, then 25% is paid on merit basis. This is the best part because clubs are paid according to league position. 25% merit money starts with £1.23 million for 20th placed club then increases by £1.23 million for every position all the way to top where champions will get £24.7 million.

If a team in the ninth position (earning 19,918,368) had a chance to win its last three games to leapfrog into 5^th position (to earn 21,968,793), that would be an extra £4.92 million. Would a club compete for that? What a stupid question to ask. Is there a difference between a team finishing 9th and 5th in the AUPL? Would a club in the AUPL fight hard to leapfrog from 9^th to 5^th position? You don’t have to answer those two questions but now you get an idea why our league is not competitive, why most of the 240 games in the AUPL season are played for pride which makes the AUPL very vulnerable to match fixing.
  16 teams should have more than a league trophy and relegation to play for, UPL should be creative so that every team has something to play for.

Dennis Onyango won the 2015-16 PSL title with Sundowns. The Q-innovative system in PSL makes every game ultra-competitive

FUFA HAS LED THE WAY WITH FJL, AUPL CAN DO FAR MUCH BETTER

  Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) made the FUFA Juniors’ League (FJL) very competitive by coming with up with a very simple idea that every team that scores more than two goals earns an extra point for each extra goal scored. This simple but creative decision ensured that every game played in the FJL had a lot at stake. 

  The SportPesa Kenya Premier League with its Top Eight tournament, the UEFA Champions League cash prize breakdown system, the Belgian Jupiler League and the Premier Soccer League of South Africa with its Q-innovative system are all examples of how creative ideas can make a league very competitive.

  As 2015-16 AUPL champions, KCCA FC will represent Uganda in the 2017 CAF Champions League, they’ll find it very competitive yet they haven’t been prepared for that level of competitiveness because of a less competitive league. UPL usually helps teams that have continental engagements by postponing league fixtures but the REAL HELP should come in form of being creative to make UPL competitive. It’s only then that KCCA FC and future UPL champions will be able to qualify for the group stage of the CAF champions’ league, which pays a lot.

UPL C.E.O Benard Bainamani has the power to develop a competitive AUPL

  With higher levels of competitiveness you get better players, with better players you get quality matches which increases the number of fans in stadiums. With more fans in stadiums, clubs would make more money from gate collections and be able to attract sponsors to earn more revenue. The cycle gets bigger and better.

  League organizers all over the world constantly meet to review how to make their respective leagues more competitive. Football fans usually discuss ideas like head to head, play-offs, Europa league winner qualifying for champions league e.t.c All these twists are meant to make the league/tournament more competitive. UPL C.E.O Benard Bainamani and his board have the power to make the AUPL competitive through implementing creative ideas. 
Challenges are solved through creativity which in turn pays a lot. 

  A competitive league markets itself to sponsors. Football can’t attract money at the start BUT through creative decisions we can generate revenue that would be needed to develop Ugandan football in the long run. UPL as a major stakeholder in Ugandan football have the power in their creative minds to change and develop Ugandan Football.

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently holds a CAF C coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.

Please follow me on Twitter @mwesben

Parent is the First Coach, your Role Should Make it Easier For Coaches

A parent is the first teacher, sounds too obvious. In sports it makes a parent the first coach, now you must be wondering, how? Becoming a professional athlete is a dream for most youngsters worldwide, and parents too because being a professional in any sports discipline pays a lot. it’s not just the healthy pay but being paid to do what you're passionate about is the best feeling of dreams turning into reality, its incomparable and of course sports comes with its added advantages of better health, travelling the globe, building well networked connections and gaining more knowledge.

Maggie takes on her two sons in a football fun session

Maggie is teaching Jeremy and Jason to be passionate about football

In developed societies, parents introduce youngsters to sports as early as three years of age while in under developed countries (read developing countries) like Uganda, the most common age of introduction to formal coaching is between 12 years old to 15 years of age. As An U-17 age category football coach, when I settle down to plan a coaching session to teach youngsters in the development phase, I usually plan to teach them technical aspects of the game, the technical basics that any footballer should be able to execute, basics like; passing, receiving, crossing, shooting and heading the ball however, in practice the whole planned session doesn't work out, it practically gets dumped on the pitch.

COACHING PLAN SHOULD BE USED. WHY DOES IT GET DUMPED ON THE PITCH?

Getting players in order to be coached becomes increasingly difficult, they easily get distracted and lack concentration, don’t have respect for team mates and officials, always talkative, can’t follow basic instructions, and get easily agitated over the most minor of referee decisions, hold grudges and revenge to hurt and injure team mates, when in the wrong they can’t apologize and don’t even know how to apologize, they thrive more on excuses than reasons, they claim to need a lot of motivation, can’t communicate effectively, very poor at keeping and managing time BUT the major one has got to be total lack of confidence and not knowing when to apply the best effort to put up a worthy challenge. If all these habits and behaviors were from players under 12 years then it WOULD be understandable but in my experience with Ugandan players aged between 15-17 years and even worse with senior team players, you get into a senior team training session and it’s very much like a nursery class. It’s all too frustrating until you realize that none of the players is bothered at all, it’s all very normal to them, they don't intend to be that way BUT weren't taught by their parents how to behave.

Maroons Junior team had lost 5-0 to Villa Jogoo Young in our last game of the 2015-16 FUFA Juniors’ League (FJL) it was an away match so on our journey back, I was very disappointed with the our performance but it’s not only the poor performance that was getting to me because I know young players lack consistency and my slogan to them is next time better. I gathered them up and asked each one of them to define common sense, they each came up with a definition that we dismissed based on example. We couldn’t get a concrete definition (if you have it please post it in the comments section) but got basic examples like; we don’t believe that there’s any culture in the world where people have lunch or dinner squatted on top of tables, then on realizing that we were on the same page I told them that when we report back for training in preparation for the next season, our first coaching session will be LEARNING and APPLICATION of common sense (parents, please do your role). Initially the players didn’t like the idea because they claimed everybody has common sense but within a minute of mentioning, I kept on picking out actions that showed a lack of common sense, by the end of our journey we had identified about five moments that proved a serious lack of common sense among the squad.

HOW THEN DOES A PARENT BECOME THE FIRST COACH?

Football clubs will start considering players for professional ranks between the ages of 14-18 years old. Players have to go through academies and all kinds of underage football being coached. To make it that far they need to be taught how to maintain high levels of concentration, how to respect team mates and officials, how to solve basic problems, to embrace challenges, being disciplined, taking responsibility for their actions and outcomes, being able to work in a team and to have team work, proper personal hygiene, having the ability to motivate themselves, have confidence that has to be differentiated from arrogance, high level of self-esteem, being straight forward and honest, should be able to take criticism, should be taught patience, they should be able to get over losses and poor performances, should be able to persevere, have the confidence to learn through making mistakes (how many Ugandans can do that?), have knowledge of performing first aid, know proper nutrition, know how to rest, should be taught how to set achievable goals, should be taught how to manage income and to have basic etiquette. As a parent you MUST endeavor that you teach children how to be able to live and interact with other people because at some point in their lives they will have to live on their own or with other people, as footballers they will need to interact with team mates, officials, fans/supporters, opponents and sponsors but the most challenging part is when they interact with coaches to be taught how to play. Will they be ready for a coach to get on with teaching the technical part of the game? Or football coaching time will have to be sacrificed to get them prepared (that would be a selfish act on the rest of the team).

Christine Mayengo is a top class parent to her son Alpha who will be easily coach-able to achieve his dream. 

As a parent you are the first coach because you have to instill all these values in children, if a child can’t be confident in your presence as a parent then how will they execute basic skills required to play football while being watched by thousands of fans? At the moment we have got a lot of youngsters who lack passion and commitment, we have footballers who play like they are forced to, they never got to enjoy the fun part of the sport while growing up, training is like a punishment to them. When they are given a break, they take it like a get out of jail pardon. As a parent you need to be the number one supporter of your child, monitor them to ensure that with time they develop the values you instill in them, know the profession they want to pursue and get started. 12 years is enough time for you as a parent to teach basic values so that coaches can take over and deliver what they are paid to do best.

parents should be the first line of support: Cathy Nakibuuka is very supportive of her son's interests. 

PARENTS FOR PROFESSIONALS

Almost every professional footballer with parents will always be grateful to their parents first because they recognize the effort and responsibility that was used to get them that far, so as a parent you need to look in the mirror because your actions will make or break your child’s dream of making it as a professional.

Rock Solid: Values are the foundation on which you set goals to achieve your dreams

The values you teach your child act as a foundation for them to set up the goals required to achieve their desired vision. As a development level football coach, I am more than grateful to all those parents that have well groomed children. It’s because of your hard work that I get to be the football coach that uses my session to work out as planned (sometimes i actually use the session plan).

As a parent, before you complain about the state of our football, sports or any other profession. Have you done your part as a parent? Still wondering how a parent is the first coach? 

About the author: Ben Mwesigwa is an U-17 football coach at Maroons FC in Uganda, he currently holds a CAF C coaching license and his vision is to develop complete world class footballers.

Please follow me on Twitter @mwesben