FUFA Drum tournament
Sunday, 4pm
Sebei vs Kigezi, Kapchorwa
Teso vs Bukedi, Soroti
Bunyoro vs West Nile, Masindi
Lango vs Buganda, Lira
Rwenzori vs Kampala, Kasese
Tooro vs Busoga, Kabarole
Kigezi vs Bugisu, Kabale
Karamoja vs Acholi, Moroto
Very few matches in the StarTimes Uganda Premier league can shoot up to Shs60m in gate collections.
However, the FUFA Drum tournament is proving a top local football tournament as far as fans attraction in concerned. Last Sunday, the game at Pece stadium, Gulu as Acholi hosted West Nile fetched over Shs60m in gate collections. No game in the tournament that was started last year has ever collected such money and has ever had such crowds. The visiting fans from West Nile used buses, trailers and other means to travel to Gulu while the home crowd was also massive. According to Rogers Byamukama, the FUFA Drum chairman, the game fetched Shs61,148,000 with VAT of Shs11,006,640 and FUFA’s 10% (6,114,800) share inclusive. There were 400 tickets of Shs10000 printed and 10,379 tickets of Shs5000. From the gross, security had Shs3,320,000 while ticket printing took Shs1,100,000. Ambulance hiring cost 800,000 while Public Adress system went for Shs1,200,000. Venue hiring cost Shs6,056,034. From the Shs19,686,000 net sharable, 70% went to the hosting Acholi Province (Shs13,780,200) while 20% went to the hosting regional association (Shs3,937,000) and the hosting district football association took 10% (1.968,600). Byamukama says that massive crowds are expected this weekend as Bunyoro hosts West Nile at the Masindi stadium and Lango hosting reigning champions Buganda at the UTC grounds, Lira during the match day five. In the first leg at Mukono Bishops, traveling Lango fans outnumbers the home crowds of Buganda despite enduring long journey as far as Lira. “People enjoy traveling and there by promoting local tourism. They spend where they go and the game has been spread further to the remote areas. Some fans visits other cities for the first time and get new experience in environment, food among other things,” noted Byamukama. The FUFA Drum runs under the theme ‘celebrating ancestry’ with all the Uganda traditional 16 provinces taking part. Shs100m is at stake in prize money with FUFA, government and Uganda tourism board (UTB) bankrolling the nation-wide tournament.
