Witchcraft is real, especially if you are a Ugandan footballer. The practice simply refuses to die, despite the local game’s pretensions to modernisation.
Kenneth Ntabazi, lead striker with a second tier league team recalls how on the match-day of a decisive game that could have seen his side get promoted to the Big League—the division just below the Uganda Premier League (UPL), his team’s coaching setup wasn’t busy discussing tactics to ensure they prevailed in the must-win game. Instead, he said, “I was taken to a shrine and had various rituals performed on me. The witchdoctor asked for my favoured foot (the right), tied all manner of amulets around it and declared I would score as many goals as I want.”
The “Wise One”’s promise did not come to pass. Not only did Ntabazi fail to score a single goal. His team also went on to lose. His coaches could be forgiven for turning to divination over preparation, after all, it is a team based in Mukono- which already boasts considerable pedigree in matters black magic. The use of magic in Ugandan football, however, is not something with geographic restrictions.
For every corner of the country, and regardless of the level of competition, witchcraft is something you should expect to find around a football environment, in the same way you would expect to find smelly stockings and football boots. Or maybe, you won’t find any boots. A player in one of the lower leagues who asked not to be named intimated how none of the players will be so “silly” as to clean their boots pitch-side. The reason? That soil one beats off the sole could be the much-needed ‘point of contact’ an opponent, or (as is even more likely) a teammate, needs to present to a witchdoctor somewhere to cast a spell. As such, there is a long observed tradition at Uganda’s football clubs that boots are only cleaned away from the training ground or playing field.
Inside job
The notion that it is mostly likely to be your own teammates out to get you is indeed validated by a 2015 story about the Jinja-based club BUL FC sacking three of its top players over claims they were practising witchcraft. This was after a club meeting in which players accused more than five of their colleagues of engaging in the act. The club’ management decided to hold a secret ballot where each player was asked to write down the names of players they suspected to be practising witchcraft. The three players whose names appeared most consistently were summarily dismissed.
You would have thought players and coaches elsewhere, on hearing this news would purpose to change their ways. They didn’t. As recently as October this year, two officials at Masavu FC, another Azam UPL club, resigned after allegations they were practising witchcraft. Team manager Edward Jjingo as well as goalkeeping coach Yusuf Ssenyonjo said they had quit because they could not tolerate “such unhealthy conditions where people accuse you wrongly”.
When we contacted KCCA FC spokesperson, Clive Kyazze, he laughed out loud when asked to comment on the practice before saying, “The time I have been at the club, such issues have never emerged in the camp.” Asked whether he had ever heard of or witnessed acts of witchcraft in the local game, all Kyazze offered was a knowing smile but no further comment.
Cranes defender Savio Kabugo, a devoted Born Again Christian, told Matooke Republic he has heard about players, especially at top clubs practising witchcraft, but counseled that they should focus on being better players instead.
Targeting opponents
Although juju is vastly popular at clubs as teammates seek ‘external’ help to outcompete colleagues or obtain favour with the coach, there have been times when witchcraft, or what looks like it, is directed at opponents. One of Uganda’s most unforgettable juju experiences is an event that dates back to 2003, when Uganda Cranes hosted Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars at Namboole stadium. With the game goalless despite Uganda’s relentless attacks, Cranes’ midfielder Abubaker Tabula spotted something wrapped in a cloth and deposited in the Rwandan goal. He was convinced it was a charm to foil Uganda’s strikers and his attempt to forcefully remove it from the field did not go down well with the Rwandans. A melee ensued and badly distracted by the incident, the Cranes lost the game 1-0 and failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup. Before the Uganda-Rwanda incident, SC Villa fans had gone as far as collecting Shs600,000 as ‘consultation fee’ for a witchdoctor to help them overturn a 6-2 first leg defeat their team had suffered to Tunisian giants Club Africain in a continental final. Despite the witchdoctor’s assurances they would be 4-0 up by the end of first half, Villa only managed a 1-1 draw.
No rules on witchcraft
Juju, though, is not a problem that is limited to Ugandan football; last year, Rwanda’s football federation passed a rule forbidding the practice after a player scored a goal through the aid of a charm, according to opponents. Uganda’s Fufa does not plan to follow suit however. The local football governing body’s spokesperson Ahmed Hussein claimed he had never heard of cases of witchcraft in the local game, and added Fufa does not have any rules that forbid its practice. “There is no law or rule that addresses such issues. The only way Fufa can come in is when an incident disrupts play directly on the pitch,” he said.
The chief executive of the Azam Uganda Premier League Bernard Bainamani is no believer in witchcraft and told this newspaper no official complaint had ever been presented before the league management committee, adding this matter is left to clubs to handle by themselves.
And in his words; “Witchcraft depends on what one believes in. If it was real, the club with the best witches would be scooping all the trophies.” That doesn’t mean Ugandan clubs, and footballers, are about to stop trying. So if you thought the growing influence of the English Premier League on Ugandan football, or the impact of television would rid it of its age-old bad manners, better think again.
ELSEWHERE IN AFRICA
There are dozens of stories relating to witchcraft and football, especially in Africa. Here are some:
– At the 2013 African Nations Cup tournament hosted by South Africa, Burkina Faso’s entourage included a witchdoctor employed full-time to weave his magic during games. It seemed to work as the Burkinabe made it to their first-ever Afcon final.
– Ivory Coast did not have as much luck in the same country. It is reported that the team’s witchdoctor for the 2010 World Cup was unable to do his job as he had not been warned about the extreme cold of the South African mid-year winter, meaning he failed to leave his hotel room for the stadium.
– When Zaire (present day DR Congo) did the unexpected and qualified for the 1974 World Cup for their first time, President Mobutu Sese Sseko was so smitten he offered the team all sorts of rewards, among them, allegedly, a planeful of witchdoctors to improve their prospects. They lost their second game 9-0.
– Still in the Congo in 1998, football fans were left awestruck after a freak blast of lightning struck dead at least three members of one team on the playing field while their opponents were left completely unharmed. Some blamed the material of the jerseys of the stricken team, but many didn’t want to look past witchcraft as the only reason.