16 June 2008
Wives and children of soccer diehards now have their husband's presence but businesses such as bars are suffering a customer malaise during the off season, writes Edwin Nuwagaba
Wives, girlfriends and fiancés of football fanatics for sometime now, may have reason to smile. That's because the excuse: "Honey I am watching football," almost every night from their spouses or lovers - now that the English Premier and UEFA Champions Leagues the most watched leagues in town have ended - will be heard less at least for the time being.
Children also will get the opportunity to see their fathers before it gets dark. But unfortunately all this is not good news for the pubs where football fans have been spending quality time in the evenings.
In fact some of them have since witnessed a low turn-up of their clientele. You will not even hear so much noise coming from these bars nowadays.
Just Kicking bar in Kisementi is one of those affected. At first sight the bar strikes you as a sports centre, as all the interior has been decorated with football T-shirts. In fact the bar manager Nick Dadiro, agrees that the leagues will leave a big gap until the leagues return. He adds that says there is also a significant decrease in the number of drinks sold these days.
But it is not all doom and gloom.
"A number of our clients are going to reduce, but we still have the European League, we shall keep some of our customers watching that, while others watch other games like cricket, rugby, rally cars and others."
Steak Out Bar is another hangout I visit. Because of its location in the middle of the town, and the numerous TV screens around, this place has been one of the football lovers' most favourite joints.
Eddie Okilla the entertainment and marketing manager here is optimistic however.
"We shall continue showing local matches on GTV, and meanwhile our theme nights shall continue. It's not all about soccer here - it's about entertainment. You see there are only those people who watch soccer and when the season has ended they don't come out, but here we have our loyal customers," he says. He adds that the places that are going to suffer mostly are those that have purely identified themselves with sports. Fat Boys in Kisementi, a bar manned by two Americans has taken to basketball.
"The good thing is that there is an increasing demand for the game. Africans have also started enjoying basketball, though the games are shown very late in the night," says Michael Parker one of the managers who also says that the place is not entirely a sports bar and that people can always watch anything that is showing on the screen and listen to different types of music that plays on specific days.
He adds that the bar makes the most money on Ladies Night on Wednesdays, because ladies don't like football. In most cases when they come to have fun and find a bunch of men staring at football they will not stay - they will move to another place.
For some women, now is the time to celebrate. Judith Kamya for example is a pharmacist who works on William Street. She is very happy that the season has come to an end because her husband on several nights would come back very late.
"We rarely had supper with him and you know it is not good for the children, especially the boys because there are certain things they need to learn from their father," she says.
Meanwhile Brenda Mawenu who works at Ignition, a PR firm in Kampala is not sure whether to be happy or not, because her husband has always stayed home whenever there was a football match: "I don't know what may follow next because now that there is no football he may decide to go out quite often- football has always kept him home," she says.
And then there is the sports gambling.
This activity had recently caught on like a burning fire in most of the casinos around town; however this time, on entering Casino Simba it's just four people placing their bets on the tables. Here, I meet Tom, and he says that the number of people that come to the casino to bet has reduced tremendously because the games themselves have reduced.
"But there are people who come to bet on basketball and those also who understand the European League which is currently being played," he says.
His colleague Henry adds that the elite football fans have vast knowledge about the other leagues like the Ireland League, Mexican League, the Finnish League, and others. Still, one notices in many places that the betting has gone down.
Meanwhile for some of the football fans like Kabuli Wengi a special hire driver, life continues, because there is still the European league to watch, though it is not as popular with the down market football fans - and as if to confirm this, Andrew Lubega, Wengi's workmate says: "I will be going back home because there is no reason for me to stay in town.
I would have supported the European League but I don't have a specific team. Premier League is what takes my time because with other leagues even when I am beaten it does not feel the same like when I am beaten in Premier League."
James Kinobe a banker at dfcu says: "We shall miss the matches because these are the leagues we have been used to. But for me and may be others we shall continue supporting the Euro although there will not be as many fans as there used to be during the Premier."
One cannot help thinking of what Pay TV will do as they too seem to cash in on the leagues. Daniel Kagwe the Managing Director of GTV at first says that he would like to dispel a popular misconception that GTV is only a sports pay TV.
"Incidentally we have 21 channels and of those, only three are sports channels. The rest are dedicated to family entertainment. To me it is important that the family gets entertainment for the house but not only football," he says.
He adds that in most cases it is the woman in the house that buys a TV, and yet women don't watch football.
So currently with football on a break, the pay TV has embarked on a vigorous promotion bringing their prices down for the entire TV package. He adds also that a team from England is coming soon to asseses the local film industry before they start screening local films. Helena Mayanja, PRO of Dstv says that they will be screening Euro 2008.
"We are going to be showing the European cup because you see; the players in this league have been playing in the previous leagues. I think our clients will enjoy it." Pay TVs are not the only ones trying to fill the gap that has been left by the Premier and Champions leagues. Jane Kasumba the PRO of UBC says that the TV will continue rolling out interesting programmes.
"We have a new one called Host a Celebrity, Jacob's Cross and we have a new soap. The Gardner's Daughter and our local programmes will continue to be as innovative as usual so whether there is soccer or not you can continue to be entertained on UBC," she said. So while the two leagues take a break the Kampala may be saved from the tension that comes with watching football.
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