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In front of a packed press conference room, She Cranes goal shooter Mary Nuba looked into the camera and voiced a message for the government of Uganda.
Uganda had just defeated South Africa 49-47 to finish fifth overall at the first World Cup on African soil; Nuba’s 19 goals had just won her the Player of the Match award.
From Moses Kipsiro, Steven Kiprotich, Peace Proscovia, Dennis Onyango, and Joshua Cheptegei of late, Nuba was re-emphasising what many leading Ugandan sportsmen have told the government of Uganda, time and again.
“This message is going to the government of Uganda. They need to reconsider their plan regarding investing in sports, and netball in particular," Nuba started.
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“We do a great job to represent this country well, but they continue not to pay attention to the things that matter, like proper facilities and infrastructure,” Nuba added.
The Loughborough Lightning shooter was adding her voice to that of her coach Fred Mugerwa: “In my country, we don’t have proper facilities.”
“These girls grow up learning to play netball on grass, concrete, sometimes tarmac surface, without the proper ball.”
“When you bring them to this springing board (world standards netball court), it will be hard for them to adjust.”
Mugerwa added: “I believe if we had the proper facilities and right equipment, we would be producing players who can compete favourably well with those teams above us.”
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For their preparations for the 2023 Netball World Cup, the She Cranes struggled to find a suitable venue; they spent nearly three weeks at the Kamwokya Sports Complex.
Enduring the scorching sun on good days and having training suspended on bad days when it rained because the court was slippery.
They also had stints at the Africa Bible University in Lubowa and the Lugogo indoor stadium; the former came with its own inadequacies, while the latter was never fully available.
They settled for the Nakirebe Sports Complex and had to travel 60 kilometres every single day from Lubowa to Mpigi for training.
On Sunday, Uganda defeated South Africa to finish fifth and leave the competition as the best African team, behind the host and Malawi.
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