The Uganda Rugby Union today issued a statement regarding the disciplinary action taken against Isaac Rujumba, a player with Jinja Hippos.
According to the statement, it brought out the fact that Isaac Rujumba had put out several tweets on his Twitter handle that seemed misleading and not true on February 10, 2023.
This came after the Jinja Hippos Clubs had just played a game with Platinum Credit heathens in Jinja.
In his tweet, Isaac Rujumba was bashing the referee, Sauda, who was the center ref during that particular game and also put out some complaints.
When further investigation was made, the allegations were confirmed to be false, and the Uganda Rugby Union subjected him to some disciplinary punishments.
The letter stated, “Reference is made to the Judicial Hearing that was held on February 27, 2023, in which Mr. Isaac Rujumba, a playing member of the Jinja Hippos Club, brought the sport of ruby into disrepute following numerous misleading tweets.”
Isaac Rujumba pleaded guilty of the charges after the hearing was made and follow ups.
Uganda rugby union came out with measures today and it outlined that Rujumba will therefore be required to do the following:
1. Undertake Level One Referee Training at the next available opportunity (5th March
2023), as part of his rehabilitation.
2. Submit himself to running touch during the on-going School’s Rugby League where he must run touch for 6 games, 2 of which should be in Kampala.
3. Rujumba must retract his misleading tweets within one week from 27th February 2023
(The retraction must also indicate that he will pursue available avenues to have his grievances addressed).
4. Mr. Rujumba must apologize to all the stakeholders that he attacked with his tweets.
The Union further stated, “Failure by Mr. Rujumba to fulfill these recommendations by April 15, 2023, will attract a suspension from the game for a period of one (1) year starting from April 16, 2023.”
The Uganda Rugby Union encourages clubs to strongly stress adherence to structures for addressing grievances among their players, employees, and fans.
This also follows the recent disciplinary action that was taken on Platinum Credit Heathens player Charles Uhuru, and it seems to be a key issue for the rugby community.
