That Pre-CANTAB match!

Author: Dr. Guster Mutesasira, Kakooza House (1970-75), RSA

Going back so many years....there are many matches that I enjoyed playing on the left wing, but one that comes to mind most was one the final of the Central Region, Senior Schools Cup 1973, which brought together schools from the Central Region. I probably remember this most vividly because it coincided with the start of our Ordinary-level (O-level) Physics Practical examination, which was scheduled for the day after the final match of the tournament. The match was to be played at Nakivubo stadium. As young boys we all always relished the idea of playing at Nakivubo as it was the 'Mecca' of national soccer, as put by our national team, the Uganda Cranes. Having watched several clubs and the Uganda Cranes play at Nakivubo stadium, we had named it 'Wembley', after the famous English stadium. It was an exciting prospect that we were going to play at Nakivubo, our very own national Wembley.

Dr. Guster Mutesasira

The team we were to play was Lubaga Boys Secondary School and at that time they were known to have a very good team. The weeks prior to the match were divided between revising for the upcoming examinations and preparing ourselves for the upcoming match at the famous St. Mary's main soccer ground. We spent time working on perfecting corner shots and coming up with other unprecedented tactics, all of which we believed would give us an edge over the competition. Despite the pressure to prepare for examinations, our morale was sky high as we waited for the upcoming match.  On the day of the final, along with our vocal supporters, we boarded the famous SMACK bus with Mr. Mugerwa at the wheel. Bro. Kyemwa (RIP) and possibly Bro. Kafeero (RIP) attended the match, while Mr. Gaston Bright Semboga was the coach.

The match started slightly late, and because of this, there was a surprise awaiting us. We dominated the first few minutes of the match and it was evident that Lubaga was rather nervous. In about twenty minutes, I got the ball on the left wing dribbled past one or two guys and crossed the ball to our famous Chrisetom Kibirige (RIP) right at the penalty spot. He sold off two guys and in no time the ball was in the net, the score was 1-0 in our favour.  The Lubaga boys were shocked but not that demoralized...for they started raiding our defense. However we had a solid defense of; Michael Opio, Peter Matovu (RIP), Paul Musoke/”Mon ami”, Nsubuga Best, Kitonsa (RIP); not to mention our reliable David Tamale in the goal. As the game progressed, we scored another goal, but it was getting dark and therein was the surprise for us. Suddenly, our hosts switched on the flood lights, wow; it was an utter surprise in those days and it was a big thing to play under the flood lights! On top of that, they had to change the ball to one that was easier to see, so we got to play the ball used by the big boys, the big clubs and the national team, the Cranes - another wow!

I remember the crowd was quite sizeable including clubs’ talent scouts and you could see that they were impressed by our quality of soccer. Ultimately, the game ended 3-0 and we won the Cup. What a jubilation we had, I had never seen Bro. Kyemwa (RIP) so excited, but the twinkle in his eyes and the diplomatic smile betrayed his excitement. We were presented with the trophy and headed to SMACK singing and jubilant. Apparently, Bro. Kyemwa (RIP) drove ahead of us and broke the news of our triumph.

He gathered the boys who were by now heading for prep-time and by the time we arrived the whole campus was ablaze with excitement. It was a fantastic experience. There was no way we could fail our Physics Practical the following day after successfully trouncing our arch rivals 3-0!

My advice for young school children is to take sports as an opportunity in their overall personal youth development. Very few people become sports heroes in their chosen sports code, but many more people who participated in sports during their youth generally turn out to be more balanced in the labour market place and life in general. This is because they were grilled early into being team players and team leaders. These skills are important for success in life.

Dr. Mutesasira and family