TALKING TOUGH! Schools warned on mercenaries as secondary school games kick off
By Thomas Odongo
The Fresh Dairy Secondary Schools games have officially started in Mbarara City with a call to end use of ineligible players.
The sports commissioner Canon Duncans Mugumya was the most vocal on a subject that has troubled and disturbed youth sports in equal measure.
During the Monday official opening ceremony at Ntare School, Mugumya said they will not betray government efforts of funding sports yet some schools prefer to use mercenary players.
“We disappointed you sir (he told the sports minister), when one school [Royal Giants Mityana] was chosen to play in the Schools African Championships and ended up missing the travel to South Africa because of ineligible players. We are more than ready to weed out this malpractice,” Mugumya said.
Harriet Apolot, the chairperson National Organising Committee stressed the need to clean the games of age cheats.
“These are age-category games and we need to protect the young players by eliminating over aged players,” Apolot said.
To start with, all players are on the online registration portal which has helped weed out mercenaries.
Five schools have since been banned from taking part in this year’s games.
Cracking the whip
Junior sports minister Peter Ogwang promised to crack down on schools that are defaulting on the sports curriculum.
“There’s nothing more paying than sports. We should allow students to excel by using their talents,” he said.
He has also vowed to tackle emerging issues in sports such as drug abuse.
“How long must we miss international opportunities by cheating through sport, including corrupting the minds of the young people,” Ogwang said.
Fresh Dairy push
Dairy producer, Fresh Dairy has sponsored the tournament with a Shs240m package for the games that started on Monday at Ntare School in Mbarara.
The five-year pact started in 2019 with Fresh Dairy catering for administrative costs at the games by increasing the brand exposure of the games.
Vincent Omoth, the Fresh Dairy Marketing Manager says he was impressed with the progress the games have made.“Over the past three editions, Fresh Dairy is pleased to see a progression through better quality of sports being played, but also an increase in the number of students and schools participating.”
Omoth added; “Fresh Dairy’s sponsorship essentially serves to nurture the sporting talent of our youth while highlighting the need for health and nutrition using our products which are great for refreshment and post-workout replenishment. Fresh Dairy believes in developing a complete individual in terms of sports, academia and health.”
Christopher Mugisa, the Chief Executive Officer of USSSA said the games have attracted more than 3,000 students in seven disciplines.
A combined 252 teams competing in basketball, rugby 15s, hockey, table tennis, badminton, tennis and girls football are taking part in the games set to end on May 15.
All the finalists will qualify for the East African Secondary School Games set for Huye, Rwanda in August.
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