Football enthusiasts have expressed concern over the demolition of Villa Park to pave way for the construction of the Kampala flyover project.
Villa Park, the home to one of Uganda’s most successful football teams, Sports Club Villa was on Friday demolished to pave way for the construction of the Kampala Flyover project by the Uganda National Roads Authority.
Football enthusiasts took to social media to express concern over the manner in which sports facilities are vanishing in thin air.
“This is the place of my first contact with Ugandan football when I was just 11 years old and instantly started my lifetime love with SC Villa. The theatre for Uganda’s greatest footballers that I ever saw is now history and this is the reality. This is simply because we did not plan for posterity. We continued to write history on water for over 40 years,” FUFA president Moses Magogo posted on his facebook account.
“As sports lovers we are unfortunate not to have been present then. This is the price we are paying and a reality we must deal with now and not tomorrow.”
However, according to Magogo, the football clubs are to blame for taking things for granted and not registering the pitches under their names.
He adds that for many years there has never been a deliberate effort for clubs to own or demand for ownership of the land that their facilities sit and this he says has made matter worse.
“The bitter fact is that the principal owners of the land in Uganda did not buy it from anyone neither was it allocated to them by God. They simply took advantage of being present at the sharing table.”
A number of other football enthusiasts have joined Magogo in taking a swipe at the latest development.
“I think FUFA should engage the government and lobby for arenas atleast in each region of the country otherwise Villa Park is gone but this should be a wakeup call to all club stakeholders in Uganda,” one Josh Champion posted on facebook.
Cephas Kato said,” It is now time for football clubs to own their land for constructing the club's stadiums.”
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