Uganda Govt Urges To Support Sports Development

As Africa basks in the extraordinary organisation, exuberance and skills on display at the 26th African Nations Cup finals in Ghana, it is impossible to suppress the emptiness caused by Uganda's continued failure to qualify for the continental showpiece.

How did countries like Namibia (2 million people) and Benin (6.7 million people) which have miniature populations and which were miles behind Uganda in terms of football development, end up basking in the glory while we languish in obscurity?We know the Cranes have over the years failed to qualify for the event primarily due to organisational shortfalls and lackadaisical government involvement. Unfortunately, the custodians of our national game continue to approach efforts to end this 30-year qualification jinx with alarming indolence.

Local football governing body Fufa has for the first time budgeted for Ugandan scouts to travel to Niger, Benin and Angola to spy on our opponents in the qualifiers for the 2010 Africa Cup/World Cup finals. This will turn out to be an exercise in futility as we have aleady missed out on the biggest chance to scout on our opponents in Ghana.

Cranes coach Lazslo Csaba chose the three-week period of the tournament to travel for holiday in Germany. The explanation given by Fufa is that he had some pressing problems, but he will be given videotapes of Angola and Benin's games. This is not scouting.

Proper scouting involves attending opponents' training camps, understanding their mentality, what makes them tick, and what makes them flounder. It involves unearthing opposing player's nagging injuries, speed over 100 meters, heading ability, average height and team politicsNone of this can be understood by studying a 90-minute video. Government's continued failure to give the national game proper support is befuddling. Football has a galvanising influence on the populace that no other faculty is capable of.

The outpouring of patriotism exhibited by Ugandans in the last qualifiers is almost unprecedented in the country's history and government can tap into this positive energy to achieve it's development goals.

But this is not going to happen unless government invests sufficient resources and Fufa embarks on early and thorough preparations for the next qualifiers. A scatter gun approach to managing our national game will get us nowhere.