Eden Kironde
9 September 2007
Namboole — BY the time the early morning dew had dried off the Namboole Stadium turf, hundreds of fans had already made their way into the 40,000-capacity sports arena to cheer Uganda Cranes to the Nations Cup in their do-or-die qualifying encounter with Niger.
Many fans - seeking to be part of history - trekked to the stadium, just more than 10km east of Kampala City centre, so as to beat the anticipated late afternoon traffic gridlock.
The Cranes' newly unveiled theme song, Uganda Cranes Oyee, was being sung by many although some simply hummed along.
In a rush to also milk the moment for all it is worth, a large number of taxis switched from their usual routes to the Kampala-Namboole stretch. But the number of taxis was easily overwhelmed by the fans who were increasing about 10-fold per hour.
As expected, the black, yellow and red striped attire - echoing the national colours - was the dress code of choice as once again it was proven that association with the national soccer team is no longer a preserve of the game's fanatics but a lifestyle choice.
Women, men and children alike - in an unmatched display of unity - waved miniature-sized replicas of the national flag. The more stylish ones opted for caps, shirts and blouses, but with the theme colours of the day maintained.
Mr Peter Kakaire, the general manager of Simba Telecom, the company in charge of selling match tickets said that although at least 15,000 tickets had been sold by Thursday, he expected the number to more than double by kick-off this evening.
"The number I have is not a good representative of the fans expected at Namboole," Mr Kakaire said.
"The last time we computed the tickets sold was on Thursday but you know Ugandans are funny people. More tickets will be sold today than on all the other days combined. So I expect that number to more than double by the time of the match."
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