SPORTS: WEST NILE’S REPRESENTATION IN WOMEN’S FOOTBALL AT NATIONAL LEVEL DRAWS ATTENTION

A young lady showcasing her talent in football. Photo//Erema

By Erema George

Arua City

Stakeholders have begun making moves towards promoting women’s football in West Nile with the aim of ensuring the representation of the sub-region in the national leagues is fulfilled.

At a three day Women’s football tournament organized by Mission Foundation 25, a sports ministry promoting talents in Arua and west Nile – supported by Ora Austria International in collaboration with Arua district/ City Football Association (DFA) from 4^th-6^th at Arua Police grounds, the organizers said the need to have West Nile represented at the national level must be taken serious in the sub-region.

Daniel Dafam who works with Mission Foundation 25 noted that their objective is to fill the gap that exists in the ladies football that keeps West Nile lagging behind in the national tournaments in the country;

“We realize that there’s a gap in the ladies aspect of sports within West Nile because the men seem to have a lot of support and teams but there’s no any ladies team been in the Ugandan league from West Nile and we saw that gap and feel like why is that gap? And we realize that there’s no support for ladies football in Arua and West Nile and we shared the idea with Ora Austria.” Dafam noted.

“So this is the first of this tournament that we are organizing and we are going to do subsequent tournaments of this nature to be able to foster that vision to bring out a strong ladies team that can represent West Nile in the Ugandan league for ladies.” He said.

A group of young footballers from different clubs pose for a photo during the league at police grounds. Photo//Erema.

On a similar note, Kizito Ecamayi the youth chairperson who spearheaded the organization under the Arua District Football Association (DFA) says this serves as an inspiration to West Nile teams that play Elite Soccer in order to give them hope of finding players to support them in constituting their ladies teams;

“It has been long since West Nile played regional league. Every time other teams go to elite soccer, West Nile does not have a team.so we decided to bring this tournament so that these teams understand that we are behind them and they can actually go forward and register. For now I’m sure a lot of teams that have ambitions are watching these games and seeing the players they can add on to their teams so that when the regional league comes they will be stronger,” Ecamayi said.

In a recent visit by the FUFA officials to the sub-region in July, the officials stated that it is now mandatory for all Uganda premier league clubs to have Women’s football club noting that west Nile is a candidate of having a team in the premier league.

The District Football Association (DFA) chairperson for Arua, Rashid Apangu said they do not want to be left behind in this. He however cited financial constraints calling for support;

“With the FUFA program of promoting women football, we don’t want to be left behind. We have very good talents here however all these games need a lot of finance but financing it is also a challenge, we ask every other person outside there to join hands with us so that we can have the ladies play. For them it is easy to be exposed and they still have the chances so some few ladies here can even be picked and you find that at the national level they will be playing,” Apangu explained.

Gertrude Sitaraya and Doreen Letaru, who have trusted their talents are dreaming bigger in the football industry. They shared their dreams while building their talents;

“I really want to enter in the West Nile team and the Ugandan team in general,” says Sitaraya, a senior six student at Ediofe Girl’s SS who plays for Mission Foundation FC.

While Letaru who studies on bursary at St. Gracious SS Lira was quoted saying, “I want to have my own girl’s football team after making it. I want to promote the same talent I have in different girls because there are girls out there who can still do it, girls who can still do it better than me. They still need the opportunity to do it better.”

Women’s football offers physical, mental, and social benefits that enrich individual players and transform communities worldwide. It is an explosive engine for economic growth, transitioning from a grassroots movement into a multi-billion-dollar global industry.

According to Deloitte insights, global women’s elite sports revenues are projected to surpass $3 billion, with football accounting for a massive 35% share of that total.

Despite these benefits, Women’s football in the West Nile sub-region is still developing and historically lags behind other parts of the country, marked by limited representation in national leagues, low funding, and recent grassroots campaigns according to FUFA.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis