Rujumba joined a number of Hippos fans and players in demanding the Union to wire their prize money after winning the National 7s series in October last year.
The Uganda Rugby Union has sanctioned Jinja Hippos’ player Isaac Rujumba for demanding the club’s National Sevens prize money inappropriately.
Rujumba joined a number of Hippos fans and players in demanding the Union to wire their prize money after winning the National 7s series in October last year.
Rujumba followed in the path of his sevens captain Tawfiq Bagalana to demand for money but added his own spices.
“You remember that money @HipposRugby were supposed to receive from, (sponsor’s name withheld by Pulse ***) for winning 7s?” he tweeted. “That 8 million that they chopped 4 million from under dubious circumstances? We still haven't received it.”
He did not spare the sponsors in his rant: “My main question is to the sponsor, (sponsor’s name withheld by Pulse ***): if you want a free advertisement for your product you can very easily tell the players beforehand instead of hoodwinking us into playing a tournament whose winning prize is a facade.”
You remember that money @HipposRugby were supposed to receive from @NileSpecial for winning 7s? That 8 million that they chopped 4 million from under dubious circumstances? We still haven't received it.
Thread.— Son Of The Soil (@rujus_) February 10, 2023
The union has come out strongly to condemn the manner and platform in which Rujumba ranted and sanctioned him.
“…Rujumba, a player of Jinja Hippos Club put the sport of rugby into disrepute following numerous misleading tweets,” the union noted in the letter signed by the Honorary Secretary Peter Odong.
Sanctions
The Union reported that Rujumba pleaded guilty.
As part of the measures to correct him, the Union ordered that he undertakes Level One referee training, submit himself to running touch for six games during the ongoing school’s Rugby League, retract his “misleading tweets” before Monday next week, and personally apologize to all stakeholders that he attacked.
Should he fail to cooperate, URU has promised to slap him with a one-year suspension.
Unclear reasons
This comes barely ten months since URU and Nile Special unveiled a shs9.8 billion sponsorship package for eleven of their products. The National 7s League was apportioned shs2.15 billion spread over four seasons with the beer brand as the official title sponsor.
A source in the URU circles revealed that only shs8 million was set aside as the prize money. The winners from each of the seven circuits took shs500,000. That left about shs.4.5 million which the Hippos were promised.
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