Early this week, the FUFA disciplinary committee did come out strongly and punished SC Villa captain Denis Guma by suspending him for one month on top of paying UGX 0.5M as a fine for absconding from national duty as the Cranes were in preparations for the LG tournament that took place in Morocco last month. The central defender eventually missed the tourney. In his defence, the villa central defender said that his baby was sick and therefore was not in the right frame to feature for the Cranes. Asked whether he informed the federation in writing, he said no but claimed he called the team cordinator Crispus Muyinda and explained everything. Muyinda refuted the claims.
FEATURING FOR VILLA AGAINST VICTORS.
Perhaps the bosses at Mengo would have bought Guma’s argument but the villa captain featured for the club against victors on the same day the Cranes left for Morocco. This didn’t go well with FUFA as they thought that domestic problems meant the boy could not engage in football. It was a fatal mistake that even the most die hard of villa fans must accept. This brings a feeling that perhaps the club had a hand in his refusal to join the national team. On why he featured for Villa that day, the defensive king pin said that “it was easier to attend to his child while in Uganda than when he had travelled to Morocco”. It does make sense but the officials at the club should have advised the boy not to feature since all signs showed FUFA would swing in and take action like it has done.
GOOD MOVE BY FUFA BUT IT LOOKS SELECTIVE.
Fufa coming out strongly to suspend Guma is a good move to bring sanity back to the game and show the lads that the national team comes first but such actions should not be selective. It should be remembered that before the CHAN tournament in Khartoum in January this year. Two cranes players in Godfrey Walusimbi and Dan Wagaluka did abscond from national duty in search for professional stints without the permission of the federation. The two missed the show piece but FUFA didn’t come out directly to take action. Wagaluka was indirectly punished by leaving him out of the squad that featured in the last three games of the 2012 Afcon qualifying campaign. Godfrey Walusimbi was neither punished directly nor indirectly. For FUFA to get total applause from the football fraternity, such positive actions must not be selective.
