We had our first opportunity to have the boys team and girls team play against another school in their full kit. Deo (who we initially thought was called Dale) is the local young man we found who is interested in taking over the Youth Sports coordinator role. While it is a great partnership as he needs a job, loves football and is great with kids, we are hoping he extends his great and serious professionalism he maintains for the boys team to the young ones and especially the female squad. Unfortunately Deo was not able to make our first match due to the date being switched last minute so Lisa took over coaching the boys team and I took over the girls team. Needless to say, everyone had their game face on and everyone at school (teachers included) were excited for the matches. Below you can see photos of the mob that swarmed the field after our team scored against Ndejje Primary School…it was quite a cool sight.
Things started getting a little pear-shaped from there. We were told due to the late start (Africa time) there wouldn’t be time for the girls game if the boys were to play there scheduled 25 minute halves (girls were given 20 minute halves). I strongly insisted that the boys would only play one and the girls would get one half as well as the boys. During the boys game it was upsetting that I had numerous girls come up to me and say, “We aren’t going to play are we Teacher Stevie?” There was no way we were leaving without them getting on the field, because it seemed all too apparent that was what they were used to when they did get an occasion such as this to play. Lisa wanted five more minutes play so that the remaining four of her subs could get in the game and when she tried to get them in players refused to come off the field and even yelled at her “NO!” She also informed me that a couple teachers yelled at her as well and told her she was not to take off certain players. Because of this refusal the boys didn’t get their extra five minutes and a few boys weren’t able to play.
My girls (to my utter delight) immediately organized themselves in the lineup and positions we all talked about. The coach of the Ndejje woman’s team was less than pleased that his boys were being stopped without reaching a 1-1 draw or a win. He only brought eight girls along with him for his team and since we had plenty of other girls more than willing to play (HOPE is a female dominated school) we gave him our girls to play. He refused saying, “How do we know that your girls will play for us? They will let their school win.” I incredulously responded, “This is for fun. These girls just want to play. I assure you that will not happen.” He was insistent and apparently the concept of ‘fun’ or ‘equal play’ did not resonate with him. He refused his girls to play (and wasn’t so kind about returning our jerseys we lent them and leaving the pitch), which led to our girls playing against each other. This would have been fine nonetheless because at least the girls get to play in front of their classmates which is what they were excited about. But to our disbelief the teachers started leading the rest of the students back to school and the only people left watching and cheering were a handful of us. Lisa and I saw an utter breakdown in sportsmanship to other teams, one’s own team and to female students (of which the best football player at HOPE is a female named Deborah). I think we were most shocked by how the teachers and boys we teach and train treated us. It was a sudden switch from respect to something resembling disdain. We were just girls. Who were we and what did it matter what we said? But we were the girls who came to Uganda, brought the equipment everyone was enjoying, started practices and teams, facilitated this match and also play football on this same pitch with men as equals. None of that was apparently relevant at that moment.
As the most popular and global sport in the world, football has the dangerous ability to quickly change into a negative. Especially amongst those that place all their value in it. As much as it unites it can divide fast and furiously. To see it is not pleasant; but these experiences are invaluable because they show the crux of a gender (or racial, religious, cultural, etc.) breakdown and reveals that negative potentiality, which Lisa and I will be able to surely redirect on a united front.
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