Uganda cannot be faulted for lack of effort but their results in Ghana in January showed how brutal the Africa Cup of Nations can be to regular absentees.
As the unknown quantity, the men got off to a commendable 1-1 draw with third ranked Ghana.
The dressing room celebrations were criticized by many fans back home as premature. But it was deploying the same gang-ho attacking tactics that led to the 10-3 hiding from Nigeria despite scoring first and not “players feeling they had arrived”.
The defensive show in the 3-1 loss Egypt showed they were learning lessons. Uganda then went on to register its first win (3-2) of the tournament against Namibia in the classification games before falling 6-1 to Ghana.
The debuting women’s team deployed heavily at the back playing Norah Alum and Teopista Anyango, usually attackers for their club Wananchi deeper in midfield and left-back respectively.
Right-back Lamula Nakajjumba was also a major positive as she settled seamlessly into her first defensive job.
Uganda was also solid at defending short corners especially against Zimbabwe, which they limited to one conversion out of 12 attempts but their attack could have done with more ingenuity.
Also more teamwork was expected as half the squad came from Wananchi which is so dominant at home. But there were moments when you felt they were stunned by being on the receiving end of heavy defeats.
Eventually, Uganda conceded 24 goals and scored just once through Thuwaibah Kiggundu to finish last in the women’s category.
Meanwhile, Uganda’s biggest positives came from the technical officials’ side where umpires and namesakes Stanley and Kenneth Tamale took charge of the highly charged men (Nigeria and Kenya) and women’s (Zimbabwe and Kenya) bronze medal matches respectively.
Kenneth was also involved in the pulsating semi-final between Zimbabwe and hosts Ghana that the latter won with a last second penalty corner awarded by the Ugandan umpire.
George Ntegeka also ran both the men’s (South Africa and Egypt) and women’s ((South Africa and Ghana) finals from the table – confirming the progress Uganda’s technical officials made throughout the tournament while the country was also rewarded by Africa Hockey for its efforts in developing the game at the grassroots.
The local season calendar then started with the Easter Cup in March with Nairobi-based side United States International University beating Weatherhead 1-0 in the finals to win the men’s trophy.
Weatherhead men’s troubles were just starting.
In the men’s Memorial Shield, Wananchi came from 3-0 down to beat Weatherhead 3-2 on penalties and that started off a psychological warfare that the former won throughout the season.
Wananchi went on to win the two league meetings between the sides and eventually take the men’s title.
The sides also met in the finals of the Independence Cup held in Mbarara but Wananchi won the trophy on penalties.
Their next meeting was in the two-legged Uganda Cup semifinals last month. Weatherhead felt they had the advantage after winning the first leg 3-2.
An early 2-0 lead in the second leg only confirmed their feelings but somehow Wananchi wrestled back to win that leg that happened over 24 hours after the first 3-2 for an aggregate 5-5 score.
The latter then won the shootouts 4-3 then went on to wallop Kampala Hockey Club (KHC) Stallions 5-1 in the finals for their fourth trophy of the season.
Deliverance Church of Uganda (DCU) lost the women’s Easter Cup final 2-1 to Wananchi. Wananchi also beat their rivals in the Memorial Shield a week before the Uganda Baati Hockey League (NHL) started but that was the last time they managed to beat DCU this just concluded season.
DCU forced a draw in one of their league meetings and won the other to clinch their first ever NHL title.
The sides avoided each other in the Independence Cup as KHC Swans ousted DCU on penalties in the semifinals.
But that did not stop Wananchi from securing a third title of the season as they beat KHC on penalties in the finals. The latter, however, cooled the steam of a disappointing season with participation in the 8-aside tournament in Bungoma, western Kenya in early December.
DCU and Wananchi then met in the Uganda Cup semis last monh but the former showed emphatic prowess winning the first leg 2-1 and the second 4-2 for a 6-3 aggregate win.
DCU then went on to beat Weatherhead 2-0 in the finals to complete their double.
Meanwhile, to cap the year, Makerere men’s side Stingers participated in the Eastern Africa University Games, where they won silver behind Kenyan side KCA and ahead of Kenyatta and Methodist universities.
5/8 Place: Nigeria 4-0 Uganda
7th Place: Zambia 2-1 Uganda
5/7 Place: Namibia 2-3 Uganda
5th Place: Ghana 6-1 Uganda
TOURNAMENT MEN WOMEN
Easter USIU Wananchi
Memorial Shield Wananchi Wananchi
Independence Wananchi Wananchi
NHL Wananchi DCU
Uganda Cup Wananchi DCU
