Women Football: UCU Suspends Sports, Lady Cardinals’ Future in Suspense
Mukono: Federation of Uganda Football Association, FUFA, few weeks back revealed that Women football leagues are returning into action come April and May 2021 in a new format.
The format will see FUFA Women Super League and Elite League be played in a tournament format and all games shall be hosted at FUFA Technical Centre Njeru.
However, the 2019 Women Elite league champions, Uganda Christian University Lady Cardinals, their future is still in balance not sure whether they will manage to feature due to financial constraints.
The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the country last year, Education institutions were heavily financially punched and aiming at slimming their budget to fit in their small finances they have in pocket.
For the case of Uganda Christian University, the Mukono based Higher Education institution giants decided to put a halt on Sports department because they realised that Sports department take at least 35% of their budget.
UCU Director of Students Affairs (DOSA) Bridget Mugume said that due to COVID-19, the university suspended all the sports activities and halted staff contracts.
“The university couldn’t sustain the sports and its administrators because it was financially struggling,” Mugume told Uganda Partners, a local website.
The DOSA, emphasized that the sports department takes 35% of the students’ activity fee, which the University could not raise. Mugume added that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that the government asked the University to implement before taking players to the pitch needed more money to put in place.
She noted that even if the university leagues open in the near future, the university’s participation will be determined by the capacity to raise funds for the activities. All the leagues where UCU participates on the national level, such as basketball, volleyball, netball, wood ball and women’s football are still suspended because of Covid-19.
The suspension of the sports activities also has affected students on sports scholarship. Cornelius Engwenyu, the head of Sports department at UCU said that the University has only allowed to continue paying tuition for the students who were on scholarship before the lockdown.
“However for the new players that are coming on board, the university can’t sponsor their education because of lack of funds and has stopped new entries to maintain the existing scholarships,” he said
It should be noted that at least eight of the UCU Lady Cardinals starters are in final year which leave the team in dark future.
And this website learnt that some players are in search of new clubs before their current club follow the footsteps of defunct Muteesa I Royal University WFC.
Credit: Ugandapartners.org