WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPORTS INDUSTRY IN UGANDA?

I urge the government to invest more in developing the sports industry of the country because it could be a great source of income for the government as well as helping several Ugandans develop and nurture their talents or abilities.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SPORTS INDUSTRY IN UGANDA?

The government can take a step by step approach i.e. by starting with the most popular sports such as football, chess, among others and eventually, different categories of sports can be developed.

Undoubtedly, the sports industry has the widest range of talents than any other industry in Uganda and the world at large. Sports games range from the very popular ones such as football, basketball, rugby, athletics, motorsport, boxing, chess, cricket, tennis to the less popular ones such as wood ball, karate, badminton, among others.

In Uganda, despite the fact that the sports industry has not been given much attention, we have still had wonderful sports personalities who have represented the country internationally and have won gold, silver and bronze medals. For example Dorcus Izinkuru, Stephen Kiprotich, David Obua, Joshua Cheptegei and recently, the Uganda hippos who made it to the finals of the U20 Africa cup of Nations.

It is unfortunate that sports men and women in Uganda live an undesirable life. Firstly, they are paid less, they do not have good training grounds to help them improve and develop their skills. The usually train on hard grounds and some of them end up getting injuries which lead to the collapse of their careers just like that. Such conditions have forced many of our sportsmen and women to look for greener pastures elsewhere. Haven't we heard of the athletes who refused to return to Uganda because they found something much better than what they were getting in Uganda?

Furthermore, the country even lacks standard stadiums. In fact the only standard stadium in Uganda is owned by an individual. That is St Mary's Kitende Stadium along the Entebbe road. However, each year the government passes out its annual budget in trillions. Does the government ever think of allocating funds to develop the sports industry or does it think inserting more money in security will improve the sports industry?

Let me remind you of some of the advantages sports industry. This industry brings people together from different cultures. For instance, people with different ethnicities or backgrounds are united to support KCCA football club or the Uganda Cranes in a match.  

Let us develop sports, let us develop our country Uganda.

WRITTEN BY: BRIAN NIRAGIRE.

The writer is a member of the National Christian Students Association (NCSA Youth).