URU secretary shades some light on the way forward

Dear Esteemed members,

I kindly seek your indulgence to allow me refute the murmurs about various events that have occurred in the course of the Rugby Calendar. Specifically, I wish to address the issues raised by an article in the Uganda Rugby Fanzone web site.
First of all, we completely welcome this open approach to discussing Rugby and bear no axe against the substance and content of this article. This is simply to refute (where it is required), up-date you and appeal for your cooperation on advancing Rugby matters.

Ladies Elgon Cup

Indeed, the return leg of the Ladies’ Elgon Cup was initially cancelled due to lack of funds. Now, the genesis of the lack of funds is quite straightforward. You can only spend what you have. Two major factors have affected the Union’s cash flows in 2011:

The pulling out of Coke from sponsoring schools and the fact that (unlike last year), in 2011 our 15s team had to meet its obligations to travel to Zimbabwe for the Victoria Cup – a trip that cost over Shs 80M. Further, the u19 team also travelled to Zimbabwe for the top tier CAR tourney to which CAR provides only half of the required travel costs. You will appreciate that all the above lacked direct sponsorship during 2011. The combined effect created a funding gap of about Shs 245M.
The change of heart to fund the Ladies’ return trip was out of a special plea from the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) and this was done after considerable consultation with UWRA. But this should not deflect us from the poor state of finances we were facing. There are several interests that have to be balanced to ensure Rugby events happen (regardless of the difficulties in funding).

The Union did indeed borrow Shs 80M to try and cover the existing funding gap at the time – but even this was not nearly enough. This matter was discussed in the recent Chairpersons’ Round Table (CRT) meeting where a complete accountability of how the funds were utilized was provided.

7s Circuit

The cancellation of the 7s was indeed a decision made collectively by the Excomm mainly on account of the fact that we thought that if we could not involve the upcountry teams, it would be unfair to call it a national 7s circuit. In the interest of both fairness (to upcountry teams) and financial prudence, we opted not to hold it in 2011. Members of the Union however intervened to hold a Kampala based circuit which went on quite successfully. In the Fanzone article which is critical of the 7s this year, it is easy to miss out that the reason why it was cancelled in the first place which was due to the last minute (and this is in a literal sense) pull out of the sponsor. Members are free to access communication to this effect. The Union immediately set about securing an alternative sponsor – although it was already too late for the 2011 edition. The efforts yielded positive results – Ecobank and Sheraton have come on Board as sponsors of the 7s circuit and national team and the Safari 7s event of 2011 was one of the best organized logistically as a result of Sheraton’s sponsorship.

Makerere 10s

Makerere 10s has traditionally been organized by Makerere University. At the CRT, the Chairman of Impis provided a full explanation of what happened and it was communicated that the party contracted to come up with funding for the event did not manage to do so on time. The Chairpersons resolved that the Contracts Committee would review the undertaking Impis had with the party concerned and make recommendations to avert any future occurrences of this nature.

Bamburi Super Series

I find it quite interesting that the article did not mention Bamburi Super Series (BRSS) as one of the events with several hiccups. This is indeed one of the events in which the Union lost money. At the close of 2010, members of the Union resolved that Uganda should only participate in BRSS if the teams are assured of equitable financing from the organizers (based in Kenya). A local committee was tasked with driving Uganda’s participation in BRSS and the committee outsourced the funding and organization of this event to a local firm under the understanding that no funds would be drawn from the Union coffers. Unfortunately, mid-way through the event, the outsourced firm failed to come up with the funding to allow the teams to participate meaningfully in this event. Goodwill on the part of Kampala Rugby Club and the Union was what it took to ensure that the team that made it to the semi-final and third-place play-off was able to do so. This is to simply show you that there are difficulties in organizing these events but a genuine show of cooperation is of big assistance under such circumstances. In both 2010 and 2011, the Union attempted to outsource this event as a means of leveraging the private sector to increase sponsorship. On both occasions, the outsourced party did not deliver in full. This is not an indictment of the outsourced party – simply an admission that securing sponsors is not a one-day workshop but a work in progress. The alternative is not to hold events – which as far as the 7s circuit showed, will also attract criticism.

Women’s Botswana Qualifier

The above event is another one which certainly did not go without incident. It was initially cancelled by the Excom (again due to lack of funds); but the ladies took the proverbial bull by the horns and fundraised for the event. The Union successfully petitioned the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) for an additional USD 3000 to supplement the USD 5,000 that was already available for tickets and the subsidy in concert with the great fundraising effort by the ladies, made this trip happen – and the girls did a fabulous job indeed! I wish however to let you know that the USD 8,000 that CAR contributed, did not arrive until the day after the Ladies’ travelled to Botswana. We were therefore unable to secure the seats that we had booked on KQ. Now this is a case where CAR was at fault. We had for several weeks petitioned them to send the funds early to allow us to book the tickets, but this did not happen. On the fateful day, KQ simply refused to release the tickets. In the end, we had to secure tickets on credit from a travel agent, which tickets were considerably more expensive (some ladies had to travel on business class in order to get seats). All this effort is never seen on the outside and our Country Manager literally camped at the travel agent’s desk until she relented. We have a USD 7,000 debt as a result of this intervention. I mention this to allow you to appreciate that Rugby events take place against a wave of immense pressure and yet most of the effort is on a voluntary basis.

About Drawing Up Plans

If anyone is critical of planning, then therein lies the dilemma that we face. Indeed we have spent a good amount of 2011 drawing up a strategic plan to enable us have a more structured approach to managing Rugby. The plan was developed with input from a wide-range of members and subsequently circulated to all members for final feedback – we got no response. At the last CRT, which was on 13th December; members requested a more personal forum to discuss the strategic plan (SP) and we concurred with this proposal and will have some kind of workshop to put the final touches to this plan early in Jan 2012.

One aspect of the plan that I do not tire to explain is the setting up of Club Committees to run events next year. The Premier league shall be run by a committee consisting of a member from each club in that league. This will bring the game in closer control of the members (something that is demanded) but also raise general management capacity and improve communication.

To highlight the challenges we face in Uganda, it is interesting that we have called so far for clubs to send representatives to no less than 3 planning meetings to set up these committees, but the response has always been poor. Before the last CRT, we had called an earlier one on 7th December to which only 3 clubs turned up. What is my point? The poor turn up is clear evidence that Rugby in Uganda remains an amateur sport. Moving things therefore requires significant personal sacrifice not just at the Excom level – but very evidently at club level too. We must all therefore play our respective parts in being cogs in this big wheel.
Diagnosis of Events in 2011
Successfully organized events in 2011:

1. The Premier League
2. The Shield
3. Reserve League
4. Women’s league
5. Uganda Cup
6. Schools premier league (with a very great semi-final and final)
7. Independence Cup (Schools)
8. University League
9. Botswana Ladies
10. Reunion tour of the ladies
11. Confederation of Africa Rugby tournament
12. Under 16 Tourney versus English touring side

Events that were organized with significant challenges:

1. Elgon/Victoria Cup (Men, especially away legs)
2. Elgon Cup women
3. CAR U19 Men
4. BRSS
5. 7s circuit
Events that failed to take place:

1. Makerere 10s
2. Union also pulled out of Lusaka 7s CAR event
3. Some school tournaments (due to lack of sponsor)

Now, on the list above alone, one should appreciate the scale of work that comes with organizing Rugby events in Uganda against the background of limited funding for sports in general and the fact that most of the labour behind Rugby is either underpaid or not paid at all. The clear means of doing this is to plan – which is why much emphasis has been placed on planning in 2011. But more importantly, we need to foster more goodwill and a spirit of partnership – at the moment this is the most lacking element and it starts with you! You can start by simply having a Nile Special when you choose to drink a beer. This is a direct way of supporting Rugby.

Financial Management

Finally; I wish to discuss the issue of financial management as there has been disquiet about alleged financial mismanagement at the Union. I cannot speak on behalf of the former treasurer about his reasons for resigning. What I do know is that it had nothing to do with any form of financial misconduct on the part of the Union affairs but more with policy about choices of which events to fund and not to fund (given most of our financial woes have been occasioned by our participation in international competitions). Regardless of this, the Union operates a completely open-door policy as far as finances are concerned and members are completely welcome to cause a thorough interrogation of the sources and application of funds. We can take the initiative to propose an independently constituted committee amongst members to undertake this task, if such an inquiry is so deemed necessary. Such an investigation should cover all concerns of Uganda Rugby, including the debacle surrounding Kampala Rugby club, which is also a subject of much rumour. How such a committee is constituted can be a subject of discussion when we meet to discuss the strategic plan early in January 2012

I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Alex Kalimugogo
Hon. Secretary URU