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In the case of rugby, centre referees are reported to be earning Ush 50,000 ($13.4) from the Uganda Rugby Union for every game managed.
Referees. The most criticized stakeholders in sport.
It doesn’t matter if the person criticizing is actually knowledgeable or not.
Referees seem to get the stick for whatever goes wrong.
Players and coaches have all made mistakes during games in different sports disciplines, but they usually ignore that and focus on an incident by the referee that, in their opinion, was the game changer.
Cries over poor officiating have already dominated the Nile Special Rugby Premier League and the National Basketball League in Uganda.
Referee Ronald Wutimber was the centre of attention when he awarded Platinum Credit Heathens a penalty try at the death to hand the defending champions a 19-12 victory over rivals Kobs just the other week.
Namuwongo Blazers captain Paul Odongo is serving a suspension for coming out to label referees as crap and rusty after his side’s 87-77 loss to the UCU Canons.
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And as all this continues to unfold, Pulse Sports took an interest in finding out how these match officials are actually remunerated for the work they do and the insults they have to bear throughout games.
First of all, refereeing is not a job. Certainly not in Uganda, where even the most significant stakeholders, the players, are barely paid for their sweat.
Low pay
Ugandan referees earn as little as Ush 20,000 ($5.36) in the Fuba Division One and Two for every game officiated.
Here, officials are like freelancers in Journalism. You are only paid for work done.
And this can be tricky. With politics involved in some cases, some officials will find themselves underutilized by key decision-makers.
The 20,000 is for the referees. Their counterparts, who manage the table, make do with Ush 15,000 ($4.02) per game.
The money increases a bit when these officials handle the NBL games.
There, a referee will take home Ush. 30,000 ($8.04) per game, while the Games’ Commissioner earns Ush 50,000 per day.
On weekends, when there are more than two games on the day, a referee might be lucky to handle two games and do table duties for another two games to go home with decent pay.
In the case of rugby, centre referees are reported to be earning Ush 50,000 ($13.4) from the Uganda Rugby Union for every game managed.
This is usually followed by a transport refund, depending on where the game to be handled is.
Quite obviously, football referees are the envy of the rest, especially those handling the Startimes Uganda Premier League.
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They earn Ush 100,000 ($26.8) for every match handled.
Uganda Volleyball Federation pays referees between Ush 35,000 ($9.38) to 40,000 ($10.72) per Game Day, depending on the venue of the games.
In this case, a referee can handle as many as four games in different capacities and still take home the same amount as one who managed one or two games.
The workload also means that referees need to maintain the same concentration levels in the third or fourth game as they did in the first game, which is nearly impossible.
The Uganda Cricket Association is believed to pay umpires Ush. 70,000 ($18.76) plus transport refund depending on the venue.
Side hustle
Because this is not a full-time deployment, referees do other things to fend for themselves and their families and only take officiating as a hobby or side hustle for most.
Some are not readily available whenever needed because they are busy attending to things that pay a lot more than sports officiating.
But when the time comes, and they are on the pitch or floor, they have to endure the insults from players, coaches and fans either for the love of the game or for the sake of taking home something, however little.
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