The 5th annual Suubi Butonde Bwansi Sports Tournament, which has been running over the last 2 months, concluded on July 12th with our biggest finals day ever. The 2015 finals saw over 5,000 people turned up from Lwengo District and beyond to this much anticipated day that brings such joy and excitement to everyone in the villages around Suubi Centre.
Activities started bright and early with the bicycle racing competition. The 27 riders excitedly gathered on the starting line to receive cycling jerseys and shorts that had been so generously donated by Logan Cycling Club in Queensland. A huge thank you goes to Phil Baker for organising to have their out of date kits sent to Uganda, rather than letting them gather dust in a box in Australia. Both the cyclist and tournament organisers are now proudly wearing the gear, which also had Suubi Centre printed on it. This will continue to help promote cycling in the area, but also Suubi. What a wonderful outcome!
A record number of riders took part in this years race; it was fabulous to see 27 riders excitedly lining up at the start.
The competition was fierce as the riders passed through many of the villages surrounding Suubi Centre - what a fabulous way to promote the Centre and get people talking about the many wonderful activities, projects or services that Suubi provides.
The race concluded at Suubi Secondary & Vocational College, which also gave the many spectators an opportunity to check out the new school while they were there. It was a fabulous sight to see the winners and organising committee on the finish line, all kitted out in gear donated by Logan Cycling Club.
With the bike race complete, the action moved to the Lubanda pitch where lots of other sporting activities got under way. The tug of war, matooke peeling and mini marathon were thoroughly enjoyed by the huge crowd as they waited for the finals of the netball and football.
The tug of war events created great excitement. The crowd cheered loudly as the participants used every ounce of their strength to get across the line.
A huge crowd also gathered to watch the matooke peeling; while it didn't require the same strength, it certainly require concentration and speed.
The opportunity for the SSVC students to perform in front of so many people was another highlight of the day. Through their songs they were able to pass on important messages about how education can fight poverty. The school head master also took the opportunity to tell the huge crowd all about SSVC and the inspiring education it is offering.
The netball and football matches were the final events for the day. Eight teams, in each of these sports, had started out the tournament in May and fought their way through the earlier knockout rounds. It Kyassonko and Kinoni football clubs and St Mary Manja and Kisweera netball clubs that eventually earned the right to play off in the final.
The St Mary's secondary school girls proved too strong for Kisweera on the day by winning the match 34 to 10 goals.
By the time the football match got started, the pitch was surrounded with an estimated 5000 spectators.
The huge crowd proved to be somewhat of a challenge during the final of the football. With score on 0-0 and the match only 3 minutes away from completion, Kinoni FC scored a goal, only to have the Kyssonko goal keeper say a spectator had pushed him, making it impossible for him to intercept the goal. As the daylight very quickly faded it was decided that the match could not go on and the two teams and the event organisers would need to meet and decide the fairest possible way to proceed. At a meeting held on the following day it was decided there would be a rematch yesterday (19th).
Once again a huge crowd turned up to watch the rematch:
Nets were set up behind the usual open goals to avoid a similar problem occurring.
Much to everyone's credit the rematch was played in a hard fought but very fair manner and the spectators were very well behaved.
Somewhat ironically though, the end of ordinary time saw the two teams locked at 1 goal each. This of course meant the decision came down to a penalty shoot out, which Kinoni FC eventually took out!
The runner up prize of a goat was awarded to Kyssonko Football Club.
Kinoni FC were thrilled to received a cow as their prize for being the eventual winners.
So although the original football match had caused some controversy, it actually proved to an added bonus for everyone as they enjoyed another fabulous day of sporting activity. Overall, throughout the entire event it was wonderful to see so many people actively involved in such a variety of sports. Just as importantly though, was the fact that it gave Suubi the opportunity to inform the public on the many things that are happening at the project and how they can get involved.
A huge thank you and congratulations to the amazing Suubi staff and sports committee for running our biggest and most successful tournament to date!
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