If Ugandan volleyball is far from getting to the professional standards the heads that govern it keep on singing, its bond with the amateurism is growing stronger each passing day.
Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF) and Club Managers are at loggerheads after the former through its first Vice President Godwin Ssennyondo issued contradicting statements suspending the 2016 National Volleyball League under unfamiliar circumstances.
UVF and Club Managers have agreed to disagree since April 2014 when National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was unveiled as the league’s title sponsor.
A move that Clubs were locked out of but were forced to comply with the terms and conditions that they are yet to have a look at.
On June 26, Ssennyondo released a statement suspending men’s Serie A and Women’s Division.
Part of his release read;
On that note, SOC is going to put on hold all Serie A and Women’s matches to give more time to the rest of the Teams that have not yet submitted their copies of signed Terms and Conditions for the NSSF Volleyball League.
Other matches for the rest of the Series shall go on this week and only Serie A and Women’s fixtures for those teams that will have complied will continue after the KAVC – NSSF Tournament.
All teams that would like to be a part of this year’s NSSF Volleyball League should submit their signed forms by close of Wednesday 3rd August 2016 to enable SOC produce the final first round fixture.
In the meantime, SOC is going to produce a fixture for this weekend this afternoon.
Two days later, Ssennyondo released another statement with another reason on why the men’s Serie A and Women’s League were suspended.
The Serie A and Women’s leagues have been pushed to the weekend of 13th and 14th August, 2016 to allow us gather feedback from Managers regarding their terms of participation in the NSSF Volleyball League as directed by Congress that sat on 13th February, 2016.
The reported strike by referees is being investigated as only 9 of the appointed referees absconded from duty on Sunday 24th July, 2016 with unconfirmed demands of a pay rise.
On consultation of some of the implicated referees, they argued that they were actually protesting against poor leadership within the Referees Commission.
The referees who refused to officiate league over unpaid remunerations included Innocent Komakech, Dennis Wakabi, Sylivia Shaine, Henry Okullu, Patrick Okello, Provia Ainembabazi, Yahaya Jamal, Betty Kyomuhangi and Calvin Okiria.
When NSSF came on board, improving the welfare and allowances of the referees was one of the issues to be addressed, but on many occasions, the officials have surrendered league games to go and officiate at upcountry tournaments with better pay.
While UVF are still pondering their next move, Mangers of Serie A and Women Clubs did write to the body last week demanding to see a copy of the said understanding the federation has with the sponsor before they can comply with the terms and conditions they have never seen.
