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He spent most of his playing career at Coffee FC as the number-one goalkeeper, helping the club win the Uganda Cup.
This story was originally published on August 14, 2011
Many may know him for his successes as a coach, but Sam Timbe was a star goalie in the 70s.
He spent most of his playing career at Coffee FC as the number-one goalkeeper, helping the club win the Uganda Cup.
But, like many good players from that era, he never got the chance to be capped with the national team.
There is more about Timbe than holding the record of being the only coach to guide four different clubs to the Cecafa Club Championship.
13:28 - 19.08.2023
FOOTBALL URA Coach Timbe dead
URA FC head coach Sam Timbe has been declared dead, at the age of 69, the club has confirmed.
He would have been a Ugandan football legend in more ways than one had he not been born in a ‘wrong’ era of goalkeeping greats.
Renowned for his reflexes, braveness, good organisation of defence and game reading, the soft-spoken shot-stopper was also a spot-kick specialist.
The pinnacle of his vital penalty saves was the heroic shootout performance in the 1981 Uganda Cup final against UCB FC when he blocked two penalties to seal Coffee’s first title in 11 years.
Timbe’s career started when he was an 18-year-old in 1972 at Nabumali High School, where he stood out as an all-rounder, but after experimenting in goal in one of the school friendlies, the gamble paid off, and he never looked back.
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He took that form to Tororo College and later to the Eastern Region team.
Coffee Career
After a spectacular show in the regional tournament, Coffee signed the then 19-year-old in 1974 alongside another upcoming goalie in, Moses Birungi Mawejje.
He faced an uphill task in displacing ageing Cranes goalie George Bukenya as well as rookie keeper John Jombwe.
He made his debut later that year in a 2-1 win over Police and, from then on, became a regular under David Otti’s reign.
The youthful custodian blended well in an ageing and struggling side, helping the Curers to steer clear of relegation in 1974 and 1975.
Still, Coffee was in many ways a sleeping giant, having won the league in the 1970 and 1971 Uganda Cup.
And in a bid to overcome the ‘underachievers’ tag as well as increase competition within the team, Coffee signed Cranes custodian Ali Sendegeya.
Timbe somehow remained number one, but his first genuine sign of competition came midway through the 1976 season when Sendegeya, renowned for his acrobatic dives, kept three straight clean sheets against Kilembe FC, Lira FC and Uganda Commercial Bank FC.
However, Timbe regained his position later and was the star as Coffee eliminated Express FC from the Uganda Cup semifinal.
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Gangama FC was supposed to be easy prey in the final, but the minnows pushed the game into penalty shootouts, with Timbe helpless as his opposite number Rashid Bwire saved two to give his side their first-ever title.
And just as Timbe was about to drop down the pecking order at the behest of angry fans over the Cup final upset, Sendegeya crossed to Kenya.
At the same time, the club sacked Birungi for leading a player strike over delayed allowances.
If anything, the fans’ discontent only strengthened Timbe; he played gallantly in the 1977 season.
Some of the highlights include a last-gasp save from point-blank range to deny KCC’s free-scoring striker Christopher Ddungu in the 1-1 draw.
A few days later, he blocked Alfonse Mukanga’s penalty late in the game to deny Nsambya victory.
Interestingly, Timbe was also a good penalty taker and regularly converted Coffee’s spot kicks. He scored four that season as the team finished a respectable fourth.
National coach Peter Okee took note and summoned Timbe to the Cranes team bound for the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana.
But Okee dropped him at the last minute to keep faith in Paul Ssali, Hussein Matovu and Jamil Kasirye, the trio that helped Uganda in the qualifiers.
However, Okee dropped Matovu after the Nations Cup and travelled with Timbe to the Cecafa Cup in Malawi. Still, he remained an unused sub.
Coffee heroics
Soon, several players like Dan Lutalo, Edward Baguma, Martin Ochaga and Fred Musisi Kiyingi left the club.
Still, somehow the defence, marshalled by Timbe and skipper Moses Lwaleero, remained water-tight.
In 1981, Brig Oyite Ojok, chairman of the club’s parent company, Coffee Marketing Board, attracted several top players with lucrative jobs and allowances.
This, unfortunately, proved to be a curse in disguise; Coffee got relegated to Division One.
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However, there was some relief before the team sealed their fate when they pulled off a shocker by winning the Uganda Cup, thanks largely to Timbe’s two saves in the shootout against UCB.
This, hence, put Coffee in an awkward position of representing Uganda in the Caf Cup Winners Cup while playing in the second tier.
Indeed, they didn’t disappoint, and their first-round encounter against Zambia’s Power Dynamos ended goalless, with Timbe winning the man-of-the-match award.
That feat notwithstanding, Coffee bowed out 0-2 in the second leg. On a bright note, the team returned to the top flight in 1983 and straightaway used its huge financial muscle to recruit several big names.
The trick worked, and the side finished league runners-up. Timbe, who had last been called to the national team in 1982, returned to The Cranes bench, replacing Steven Segujja.
Still, he needed help finding his way past Paul Ssali and youngster John Tebusweke in the pecking order.
Injury and coaching prowess
The 1984 season started well before hell broke loose during training at Kampala High School ground.
As Timbe vied for the ball with striker Muhammad Matovu, he ended up breaking his left arm. This ruled him out for several months and, sadly, proved the end of his career at 30.
Later that year, he was appointed an assistant coach, and the team finished 1985 league runners-up.
He briefly served as head coach in 1987 and in 1988. He had trained as a coach in Brazil and later England.
Still, upon his return to Coffee, he worked under a string of coaches, among them Barnabas Mwesiga, Joseph Kabundi, George Mukasa and Tom Lwanga, until he quit in 1994.
He returned to football in 1999 and handled several clubs, but his coaching breakthrough came at SC Villa, which he guided to the 2005 Cecafa Club Championship.
The year 2006 was his turn to lead Police FC to the same title. He repeated the magic in 2009 with Rwandan side Atraco and most recently led Tanzania’s Yanga to glory.
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Timbe fact file
Born January 1, 1954, to late Stanley and Dorothy Wabuteya of Bikibumbi of Bubulo, Manafa District.
He went to Bupoto Primary School, Nabumali High School and Tororo College.
Timbe played for only one club – Coffee FC and he was part of the national team from 1978-1983 but was never capped.
As coach, he won league titles with SC Villa (2004), Atraco (2008) and Young Africans (2010/2011).
He’s also the only coach to win four Cecafa Cup titles with four different sides; SC Villa (2005), Police (2006), Atraco (2009) and Young Africans (2011).
This makes him the most successful tactician in the tournament.
The sides he has handled include Coffee, Police, Lyantonde, UPDF, Mbale Heroes, She Kobs, Uganda Youth team (U-19), Simba FC, SC Villa, Uganda Cranes assist coach, URA, Tusker (Kenya) Atraco (Rwanda) and Yanga (Tanzania).
The author is the Director Marketing & Promotions of The Observer Media Ltd | bzziwa@observer.ug
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