Organizers of the ongoing Sevo Cup Tournament are not happy with big companies for shunning the football and netball tournament.
Sevo Cup kicked off last week at the Phillip Omondi Stadium Lugogo. Owino FC and Lufula FC drew 1:1 in a Group A opener. Other teams in this group include Kisekka, Kalerwe and Nateete.
The final game will be played on September 25 at the same stadium in Kampala.
The tournament has attracted teams from 16 public markets under the Kampala Capital Authority (KCCA) who Executive Director is Dorothy Kisaka.
The winning football team will win a bus while the best netball team will be handed a Coaster.
The tournament is meant to promote talent identification, sports development, entertainment and unity among traders who work in the capital city’s public markets.
Organizers, who are led by Owino Market Chairperson Suzan Kushaba, have noted that some of the football and netball teams could not afford some of the materials needed for them to competitively take part in the tournament.
It was against this background that Chairperson Kushaba and her team approached some of the big companies in the city to support these financially struggling teams.
But the organizers were disappointed when the big companies that earn billions every month told them they could not sponsor the tournament, saying it was political and in support of President Yoweri Kaguta Tubuhaburwa Museveni (Sevo) and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) government.
“They said that they do not sponsor politics yet they are working under the NRM government,” emphasized Kushaba.
Despite the big companies’ refusal to support the tournament, the competition is currently ongoing, thanks to some sponsors such as ED Kisaka’s KCCA and Team Chairman, the group supporting Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Kushaba showered Kisaka and KCCA with praises for offering medical equipment, ambulances and playgrounds for the games. She further praised Team Chairman for offering teams jerseys and footballs.
The matches continued today, Saturday, September 03, with Owino FC thrashing Nateete FC 2:0 at the Nakivubo Blue Primary School. The Owino Netball team also beat Nateete’s 31:18. Owino will play Kisekka next week on Friday. Successful teams will proceed to the next stage as the battle for the top prize continues.
Meanwhile, Chairperson Kushaba explained that some of the aims of the tournament are steadily being fulfilled, with youths from various political parties such as Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) also taking part in the games.
But she was concerned that some of the leaders of markets have started making attempts to fail the tournament. She accused these leaders of warning traders against taking part in the tournament instead of encouraging them to be part of the games so as to promote unity in the markets and city. But most of the traders in these market have ignored these ‘baseless’ warnings and organized themselves into teams, before going ahead to participate in the competition.
The tournament is now getting heated and the next three weeks are expected to be more defining ahead of the September 25 final.
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