The other day, I read a public letter/document apparently scripted by movie star Brad Pitt about his then-sick wife Angelina Jolie. According to this love letter “…She lost 30 pounds & weighted about 90 pounds. She got very skinny & was constantly crying. She was not a happy woman. She had suffered from continuing headaches, heart pain and jammed nerves in her back and ribs…..” It seemed a sad situation.
Anyway, after him taking good care of her with kisses, flowers, compliments etc., the letter ends with her getting better, “….She gained weight, was no longer nervous & loved me even more than ever. I had no clue that she CAN love that much. And then I realized one thing: the woman is the reflection of her man.”
Brad Pitt did a good job and yes, men should pick a leaf. However, I would rather we pick the lesson and quickly move on since this is not a Relationships Column. Let’s talk Ugandan football.
I love the Brad Pitt letter because I felt it’s the best way to treat someone you either love (Jolie) or in our case, something that is ours, the Uganda Premier League. Like the movie star, you don’t give up on them.
Now, it’s a public secret that not many fans throng stadia today compared to back in the day. I’ve written in these pages, before, on what could have gone wrong and what we must do to get our glory days back. After more analysis, I have decided to add another brick to this construction site.
Much as club administrators must invent ways to make additional revenue for their clubs, find the right managers and staff, pay players, and cater for basics like home and away kits, we the fans have more to do as well apart from just updating our Facebook pages wearing the club jersey. We must take care of this “wife” who is now recovering from the sickness but not yet where we want her.
We need to start acting and not continue alleging we love our game. We must force clubs to start selling replica shirts, we must demand merchandise so we contribute to the club coffers and its future. Imagine, today, Uganda has clubs whose only source of income is some rich-ish owner. For how long can these good sporting men keep those clubs they own running? Are they that rich anyway? Or is it what explains players and coaches going six, seven, eight months without pay?
The crux of my matter here is we must start replicating what we do with the Cranes when it comes to the clubs. I know there is a very good percentage of Ugandans who either don’t support any of them or worse still, know none. So here’s how this will work. First, the clubs must initiate this and not the could-be-fans. They must step up and drum up support. Even if it’s as “tiny” as creating a fans’ Facebook page, then we hope the federation and powers that be will continue availing this stability and maybe help in attracting bigger sponsors. If between these two ideas, us the fans step up, sponsors will have no option but to come on board in the name of trying to find more visibility. That way it’s a win-win. Sponsors get visibility, our football grows, players earn better and of course we the fans get to passionately enjoy another brilliant pastime over the weekends.
Brad Pitt got his woman smiling again; let’s also get our football back to the top. See you in the stands.