Netball fraternity welcomes Nakivubo the ‘home of the sport’

NIC Netball Club Coach Rashid Mubiru and his captain Rachael Nanyonga have fond memories of the old Nakivubo Stadium.

This is where each alongside many other players mastered their trade in the sport that had the facility as their home for a very long time.

But since the stadium was closed in 2017 for redevelopment the players and their teams have struggled for venues until of late when they turned to the Kamwokya Community Sports Centre that bailed out the national team and the league.

Mubiru and Nanyonga’s prayer now is that the sport can fully return to ‘it's home’ after the two netball test matches between KCCA NC and Muyonje NC and the one between the East African Netball Champions NIC against the Ugandan netball champions Prisons NC.

“The old court served the purpose but had its limitations because it wasn’t smooth and could flood when it rained but this can even host night games and drains fast,” Nanyonga noted after a press conference at Nakivubo on Wednesday.

“I thank Ham Enterprises for investing in such a facility because it will inspire the young generation and encourage them to take on sport. We have several talented children who are looking up to us so they will be encouraged,”.

Mubiru also praised the standard of the court which he said can also host international matches.

“The old facility had a rough surface which was difficult to drain but this is a standard court that can even host international matches. The playing surface is very good and there are stands for fans so I would like to thank Ham for the development,” Mubiru stated.

KCCA NC and She Cranes captain Irene Eyalu said her side was ready and eager to test the new court because her players and many others had been starved of action.

“I’m very glad and very happy because we now have a facility that we can use not only for national team training but also we can use it for league games. We have been crying for a training facility for the She Cranes so this is a good starting point and I hope we can have more of such in the country,” Eyalu said.

“We are ever ready because we have professional players who live off the game and we don’t rest because this is our job and we have been preparing ourselves and we are good to go for the Saturday match,”

For Prisons NC’s Christine Namulumba and Lillian Achola, the test matches will help the players test their fitness levels ahead of the league tip-off.

“We have taken long without playing yet we are the defending champions, so these test matches are going to help us prepare for the upcoming league. It is good that the matches are against our fierce rivals so it will help us gauge ourselves,” Achola said.

Some players had begun losing hope but when the communication for these test matches came they returned and started training. After these test matches the league should follow suit because our players have been starved of action. Even some universities have started charging some of the students on netball scholarships. So we now have hope we urge the normalization committee to step up and start the league,” Weyonje NC Coach Jessy Asiimwe added.