Over twenty years ago, the current location of the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru was known to be a great hunting ground for the local residents.
To testify this, Yozefu Muyita,71 one of the residents who turned up to watch the finals of the Presidential U16 Youth Cup said the area herbed many wild animals which included antelopes and bush backs among others.
Muyita said he was amazed to find the area now far developed into a great home of football. “Between 1983 and 1994, this was fertile ground for hunters and we ate a lot of bush meat from here. We once killed a buffalo which we shared among seven families on the eve of a Christmas day…, it could have been 1985” recalled the old man who also claimed to have played football before.
Located on a ten acre piece of land, the FUFA technical centre is now ready for use. During the inaugural tournament, St. Marys’ Kitende SS edged St. Andrews Rubindi 1-0 to lift the first Presidential U16 Youth Cup. Eight schools representing different FUFA Regions took part in the five-day event. These included St. Edwards Bukuumi (Kitara), Jinja Progressive and Rock High SS (Eastern), Mvara SS (West Nile), St. Marys Kitende SS (Buganda), St. Andrews Rubindi (Western), Bishop Negri SS (Northern) and Old Kampala SS from Kampala Region.
The cause for excitement:
The technical centre is received with a lot of excitement among the residents and the Federation officials. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Presidential U16 Youth Cup, FUFA President Lawrence Mulindwa said the centre would be fully utilized by his federation. From April 7-12 the centre will accommodate the FIFA referees course before the Inter regional women competitions later in July.
Mulindwa said the centre would reduce on the costs that have been accumulating as a result of accommodation bills in hotels. “We shall consider having the National teams and the Cranes in particular coming here as well” said the FA president. The centre can house 45 players on top of having a modern conference hall that can accommodate over 200 people, an artificial turf and one natural grass playground.
FUFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Edgar Watson Suubi described the technical centre as a new home for the federation. “We shall be doing all our trainings here and conduct the office businesses in Mengo”, Edgar said. He further referred to the centre as a factory that will manufacture players. This was in comparison with the surrounding factories in the area that produce different goods. It’s now all set for the Technical Director to shift offices from Mengo to Njeru. The only challenge remaining is the construction of his residential house which the CEO said would be put among the next priorities.
Pioneer winners in Njeru:
St. Marys’ Kitende became the first school to win a competition organized in this technical centre. They beat St. Andrews 1-0 to walk away with a cash prize of UGX 3.000.000. The first runners up received UGX 2.000.000, the third team had UGX 1,000,000 while the fourth took home UGX 800,000. All the 8 participating schools walked back with cash prizes and balls. The four semi finalists had a new set of uniform each.
Noordin Bunjo (St. Marys Kitende) and Nesta Ahabwe (St. Andrew Rubindi) were voted the most valuable players while Bunjo also doubled as the tournament’s top scorer with 5 goals. They both received individual cash prizes. Despite emerging the 8th school in performance, Jinja Progressive Academy won the fair play award.
Thank you FIFA:
It was all praises for the International Football body (FIFA) for funding this beautiful project. The technical centre was constructed with funds from FIFA under the FIFA Goal Project 1 and II. FIFA Development Officer in charge of Africa Ashford Mamelodi in company of his deputy Patrick Onyango inspected the premises on March 25 and commended FUFA for the proper utilization of the funds. Mamelodi said Uganda would be considered for further funding. To the FUFA President Lawrence Mulindwa, the word ‘thank you’ was all what he said to express gratitude to the FIFA President Mr. Sepp Blatter for the natural liking towards Uganda.
Thank you so much FIFA!