In every sense of the name, the Uganda Cup is truly a national tournament. Twelve Premiership teams plus eight teams from the Regions; all competing for one trophy.
But while this is a welcome playing format, the gap in quality between the Premiership and Regional teams has never been more on display than at this year’s Uganda Cup.
Premiership teams have recorded “criminal” scores in matches against Regional teams in almost every round — even when the teams are not at full strength and matches are not played to full duration.
Round One:
⁃ Buffaloes 63-07 Kyambogo
⁃ Pirates 154-09 Kigezi Silverbacks
Round Two:
⁃ Heathens 65-07 Kitgum Lions
⁃ KOBs 102-03 Fort Portal Tyrants
Round Four:
⁃ Victoria Sharks 54-07 Kitgum Lions
⁃ Buffaloes 105-06 Fort Portal Tyrants
⁃ Rhinos 55-10 Mbale Elephants
⁃ Mongers 69-03 Kigezi Silverbacks
The double header at Kyadondo this Saturday saw Victoria University (VU) Sharks and Toyota Buffaloes score a whopping 150 points but concede a paltry thirteen against Kitgum Lions and Fort Portal Tyrants.
Kitgum Lions and Fort Portal Tyrants started the matches strong— Lions scored first after two minutes while Tyrants didn’t concede until the sixteenth minute— but were eventually overpowered by Sharks and Buffaloes.
What could explain the wide gap in quality?
First of all, Regional teams and their players have less than a quarter of the game time achieved by players in Premiership teams. For example, in this season’s Premiership, top-tier teams played thirteen matches while championship teams in the region played eight at best.
Some Regional teams and players are still in their formative years, playing their first competitive matches.
That alone creates an experience gap that keeps widening over time.
Secondly, Regional teams are heavily underfunded compared to the Premiership teams. The simple financial inequality means Regional teams operate on bare minimums of training sessions and supporting equipment/resources to prepare the already-low squad numbers for matchday.
How can these wide gaps be closed?
To be brutally honest, money can solve most, if not all, of these challenges but, as is well known, that is not a resource in plentiful supply within the Uganda Rugby fraternity.
A different playing format which doesn’t drill deep holes inside teams’ pockets could be trialled to perhaps solve these challenges.
If one were to look away from the money, putting restrictions on which players the Premiership teams can field could level the playing field. To think out loud, the Uganda Cup can be for those who have featured in less than fifty per cent of the matches this season or for those without prior national team experience.
