Not so often that football fans of different teams agree on events happening during and after a league game.
It was the case on Friday evening after Vipers one all draw with URA in the StarTimes Uganda Premier League game played at Namboole Stadium.
As the fans were eagerly waiting to know who the Pilsner man of the match would be, off colour Vipers midfield Moses Waiswa was picked.
The shock spread through Vipers and URA fans, not to mention the neutrals, everyone showed their disgruntlement by throwing all sorts of insults to the league organisers but also booing the recipient as he picked his award and posed for pictures.
“He is not even Vipers best player today, how can he be the man of the match?” A Vipers’ official asked as he made his way out of the stadium.
“This award is for a previous game he was supposed to get but didn’t get,” another official joked before adding.
“The most decent thing Waiswa would have done was to decline the award and not accept it because he didn’t deserve it at all.”
Currently struggling for form, Waiswa didn’t standout to carry the Vipers team like he is expected to do, actually Tadeo Lwanga and Rahmat Ssenfuka stood out in midfield compared to the reigning Ugandan footballer of the year.
It was probably hard to pick out a standout player in the game Siraje Ssentamu in the URA midfield was another worthy candidate on the day especially for keeping Waiswa in check throughout the game.
URA’s Joachim Ojera troubled Vipers defense together with his captain Shafik Kagimu, the latter gave URA a 37th minute lead.
When asked who he thought the best player on the day was, URA’s assistant coach George Lutalo didn’t want to get into the debate.
“The people responsible decided according to their judgement and we can’t argue with that because we don’t have the power,” Lutalo said.
“They have all the power in the world given to them by the organisers and they are exercising their powers, we have to respect that,” he added.
Who picks the man of the match?
Usually the Uganda Premier League secretariat appoints a match agent (a journalist) whose duty is to closely monitor and follow the game events.
The events include punctuality of the teams and match officials, availability of an ambulance, goals scored, cautions, and other major events during the game.
The match agent reports back to UPL on different matter, one of those matters is the man of the match.
For the Friday game, UPL statistician Eric Owori was the match agent, though this website couldn’t ascertain whether it was Owori’s sole decision or a choice of other technical people.
Most times for matters of clarity, the match agents has relied on technical people like coaches to choose the man of the match.
When Villa defeated Nyamityobora 1-0 last year at Wankulukuku, the coaches present chose Nyamityobora’s midfielder Charles Sebutinde as the man of the match.
Ssebutinde was a complete shadow of himself in the game and it was no suprise that the day’s match agent Emmanuel Ndugga changed his mind and went with Villa’s Edgar Luzige.
At Mwererwe when Vipers and Bright Stars settled for a barren draw, the day’s match agent Joel Muyita consulted national team assistant coach Matia Lule and KCCA FC coach Badru Kaddu who their choice was.
The duo chose Bright Stars’ Moses Okot, in a game Vipers’ defender Livingstone Mulondo had been solid keeping the hosts at bay all through.
