This past week was full of rain and long days at the pitch,
for the kid’s training sessions and matches. Two weeks in, the lack of order
and structure in the country’s football system is becoming ever more apparent.
Whether it’s watching a match or playing in one, the referee always seems to
show a clear-cut biased towards one team. Last Sunday, our men’s team (who I
play keeper for) had a quarterfinal match in a local tournament. Throughout the
match, the referee seemed to gear his calls in order to favor the opposing
team. In one instance, Travis (a fellow SWB intern) was clearly fouled from
behind by an opposing player, but the referee decided to award the free kick to
the other team. With my team’s players in the face of the referee, trying to
convince the referee he was incorrect, the referee stood his ground and saw no
problem with his call. Standing in goal, watching everything unravel from afar,
I knew the referee was going to be an issue throughout the game. For the
remainder of the match, the referee clearly showed which side he was favoring,
as all of his calls favored the opposing team.
The officiating is not the only problem to make up the
corruption problem throughout the country’s football system. Near the end of
the game, a substitution was made for our team, bringing on a young player from
our U-17 team. The rules of this tournament, and every other tournament,
prohibit a player to represent two separate teams. With this player knowing
this before entering the game, he proceeded to run onto the pitch and finish
the match. At the end of the match, there was a huge uproar between our captain
and the organizer of the tournament. Our captain was not aware that this player
had been playing for another team in the same tournament, which made him look
even worse. Failing to adhere to all of his duties, he and SWB was publicly
embarrassed.
Following the match, I asked our captain why the referee
always shows a biased towards one team (usually against SWB men’s team). He
explained to me that because the tournament hosts are Ugandan, and our team is
made up of Congolese and Rwandan refugees, as well as Ugandans, we would always
face an uphill battle with the officials. He continued to inform me that this
would always be this way, because the Uganda nationals have manifested a social
norm where the nationals have become superior above all refugees. This was very
loathsome to me because looking at the socio economic status of nationals and
refugees, not all refugees fall under the nationals in yearly incomes (or what
income there is to earn in this torn peripheral nation). Breaking this issue
down further, the biggest concern is amongst the nationals not accepting the
refugees into their nation, for one reason or many. Not knowing these reasons,
I am sure there isn’t a valid argument to defend the national’s disliking for
the refugees (at least, on and around the pitch).
In the heat of the moment, one can stomp their feet and yell
in the face of the referee, however the referee will not change his mind.
Whether it’s the stubbornness of the referee to not change his call, or it is
his strong liking for one of the teams, the Ugandan national football rules are
out of order and corrupt.
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