Nabweteme, Kawempe dominate

Kawempe wrapped up the season with a 100 per cent record with their star Nabweteme taking the Fufa’s top gong. Photo by Ismail Kezaala 

KAMPALA. Kawempe Muslim won the inaugural women’s football league, which climaxed in May, after humbling Buikwe 3-2 at Namboole Stadium, a feat that most see as a reward for the school’s involvement in girls’ football since 2000.
Their dominance was so much felt that league top scorer (17 goals) and Kawempe captain Sandrah Nabweteme was awarded Fufa Female Footballer of the Year.
Their creative midfielder Hasfah Nassuna, who contested the final against her mother Annet Nakimbugwe’s side Buikwe in probably the league’s biggest sub-plot, was the Most Valuable Player.

Many female footballers have passed through primary and secondary schools, since 1994 when former KCC goalkeeper Paul Ssali started to interest women in the game. But most were fading away after senior six, mainly because there was no platform for continuity at universities and in the wider football community.
But the league, formed in January with 12 clubs, gives hope. This came after the rousing success of two editions of the Kampala Region Women’s Football League and the Fifa Com-Unity seminar held in December 2014.

Universities, led by Uganda Christian University Mukono, Makerere and Mutesa Royal, have in recent years taken on the sport too, with some providing bursaries for players.
“We cannot easily source for players in the communities but we have ready and available players in schools. This arrangement has helped promote the game,” Fufa women’s football representative Hadijjah Namuyanja explained.

As women’s football turns its focus away from simply surviving to growing into a sustainable enterprise, it faces other questions. The pressure on the other seven regions of Fufa to rise to Kampala’s standards, the challenge of having consistent youth and senior national teams (back in the day, national teams were sometimes assembled when continental qualifiers beckoned) and matching the popularity of the men’s game among others. The intricacies of these challenges could be addressed for eons.

Fufa Chief Executive Officer Edgar Watson said the federation had a sound marketing team to handle the challenges of women’s football, however, Kawempe were awarded a trophy and only Shs3m after over six months of action.
“We need NGO’s (Non Government Organisations), sponsors, government and other stakeholders to fund these projects,” Fifa instructor on Marketing and Communication Emy Casaletti, urged in December last year, at a programme meant to increase the popularity of women’s football locally.

“It is much more difficult to promote women’s football as compared to the men’s game but we can target producers of women’s products as sponsors to grow revenues. There is potential all over Africa for this game to grow to the desired level,” Casaletti added.
The league, with 15 clubs in its second season that started in October, has taken on the Big League blueprint, where a traveling team can play two consecutive matches on two days, to limit costs after Alleluya 2008 pulled out of the inaugural season over expenses. Jinja side Bidco Women, pulled out of this edition without kicking a ball.

Fan support can be critical to the league’s attempts to evolve into a sustainable operation. Because most clubs are attached to schools, the support has remained fairly consistent but uniformly low. The next years will provide a stern test for women’s football as it looks to evolve.

mmuziransa@ug.nationmedia.com