The National Council of Sports (NCS) has slammed the comments attributed to Coach Fred Mugerwa of the national Netball team, the She Cranes, that they had been denied access to the Lugogo indoor stadium for training ahead of the Netball World Cup.
“We would like to clarify that this is not true”, the statement released on Wednesday, June 21 2023, by the National Council of Sports Management read.
According to Ambrose Tashobya, chairperson of the National Council of Sports, the government of Uganda has occasionally shown appreciation for the performances of the She Cranes on international duty.
He revealed that in this quarter alone, the government released 968 million shillings to the Uganda Netball Federation to facilitate its activities, including non-residential training for the World Cup-bound team.
In the NCS management statement, it is clear that Lugogo indoor stadium is always available for use by national teams of different sports disciplines, free of charge, though with prior booking.
However, the management revealed that after availing the Netball Federation with the stadium schedule and after they used the facility for few seasons, they decided that the days and time slots available were not adequate and convenient enough for them and chose in writing to take the training to Nakirebe.
Ambrose Tashobya explained that it is possible that the management officials did not explain the to the coach, who did not attend meetings, hence his miscommunication on media platforms.
He encouraged all national teams to always plan early and secure the highly in-demand indoor stadium well in advance, rather than making last-minute ambush bookings.
“We also encourage all our partners to involve themselves in constant stakeholder engagement with us on matters we can resolve together amicably, for the greater good of Ugandan sport”, he said.
She Cranes is set to participate in the Netball World Cup tournament that will be held from Friday, 28 July to Sunday 6 August at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.