FUBA has made a major decision to remove 8 teams from the ongoing FUBA Division One season.
This comes after the league was halted for 2 weeks due to “refusal of teams to pay the registration fees”.
On 24th April, FUBA sent a letter to all team managers in Division One and Two postponing games for the 27th and 28th of April because the teams refused to pay. They were given up to 2nd May to make the payments and looks like some teams did not comply.
FUBA postponed the games for a second week running and gave a new deadline of 6th but some teams still failed to comply.
During a talking hoops X (formerly Twitter) space on 7th May, the FUBA General Secretary Hudson Ssegamwenge, who also doubles as a team manager was very livid and angry at the other team managers for their refusal to pay despite having agreed in a meeting before the season.
“I feel frustrated by the other managers, they don’t care. They don’t want these athletes to play” he said.
He added that since the teams had refused to pay, FUBA had to make a decision, and removing the teams that had refused to pay was top of the agenda.
“We are going to compile all the teams that have paid, and then we come up with a new fixture. All those that have failed to pay, we are going to throw them out. If you’re in Division One, we are going to throw you in Division 2 next season, if you’re in Division 2, we are going to throw you in the central regional league” he said.
Teams Removed
Women
Angels, Nkumba Lady Marines, Amazon Rhinos, Kibuli S.S, Watoto
Men
Kampala University, Tropical Royals, UMU FLames
What are the implications of this decision?
FUBA using an iron hand has a lot of positives and negatives.
“Last season we had to come in for the whole of the second round to help see the season out for the lower division and it was on the Federation money,” Hudson said.
This shows that the problems did not start this season but have been present for a while, FUBA had to show how serious they are if they want to get more respect and encourage the following of rules from the teams.
However, the disorganization caused will affect every team and the competition will reduce more so for the women.
6 women teams remain, Seeta High, Buddo Mystiques, Legends, Our Savior, JT Jaguars Junior and Makerere Sparks
Seeta, Buddo, and Jaguars all comprise high school students whose priority is not basketball and whose skill levels are still low. Makerere Sparks is a team that has been trying to rejuvenate itself since the arrival of coach Mavita Ali whereas Legends comprises veterans whose drive and hunger to win isn’t as high as the young lads. This means that there is a very big gap in terms of competition and whoever qualifies to go to the NBL “may not be ready” for the jump.
The number of women’s games also reduces significantly, for the remainder of the first round, only 5 women’s games shall be played.
For the Men, 3 teams were removed, Tropical Royals, Kampala University, and UMU Flames.
The Royals and UMU were both in the playoffs last year and they were in the top 3 this season.
Given that the number of men’s teams was 16 and has been reduced to 13, there will still be a lot of games which isn’t the same for the ladies.
The teams which have been removed are yet to put out any statements but in due time, they shall be coming out to make comments.
The league shall resume on 18th May with 4 games at Nakasero Primary School and the tentative end date is 29th June.
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