The community based clubs playing in the Uganda Premier League have formed a unifying body tagged Uganda Premier League Community Clubs (UPLCC).
According to Ben Immanuel Misagga, the president of Sports Club Vila Jogoo, who is the brain behind this new body, there is a current burden and overwhelming demand of running a non –institutional club in terms of securing sponsorship and the eventual financing policy of the football clubs themselves.
The Uganda Premier League Community Clubs body is a non-partisan entity for football clubs not sponsored by Corporate companies with targets as promoting partnerships locally and internationally, devising means of improving the football quality as well as attaining common goals and positions on critical football issues with a general consensus amongst clubs, FUFA, UPL and other stake holders.
The body therefore has Misagga as the chairperson, Jinja Municipal Council Hippos’s Muhammed Faisal as the Public Relations Officer, Bright Stars Ronald Mutebi as the organizing secretary, Lweza’s Ahmed Ddamulira as Counsel and Secretary and well as Proline’s Mujib Kasule responsible for helping in the guidance of sponsorship and corporate image building of such clubs.
The main proponent of this body, Misagga believes such community clubs deserve a unifying voice, one that will be respected towards the overall strategy of developing the beautiful game by supporting the league.
Community clubs are the core of football development worldwide.
There is special need therefore to have such a body in place to front the interests of such clubs in Uganda which have the most fans.
Of the sixteen top flight clubs, only six; KCCA, Sadolin Paints, BUL, Police, The Saints (Under Uganda Peoples Defence Forces) and Uganda Revenue Authority are run by corporate organizations or Government parastatals.
The rest are managed by individuals or supported by the local communities where they are located.
Save from the newly promoted Kirinya-Jinja S.S, which is partially managed by the school (Jinja S.S), the other clubs lie upon the financial muscle of their patrons, presidents and spectators.
