allAfrica.com: Uganda: "Honey, I Won't Be Watching Soccer" (Page 1 of 2)

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.

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