Bishop McAllister College & Bishop McAllister Anglican Seminary

District Soccer Champions

2011

By Tr. Assimwe Alex 

Bishop McAllister College are district soccer champions again! The new championship crown is the sixth in seven years, the only blot on the landscape being the 2010 season when we lost the final in a penalty shootout. The sixth trophy came after a victory against neighbors’, Nganwa High School, in the final of the first ever soccer gala to be organized by the new Sheema District. It was the decisive manner in which we won this championship that gave us all the more reason to feel jubilant and proud. Three nil was the score at the end of the ninety minutes (normal time). We understand that not many finals are won by such a margin. Most of them have a reputation of dragging themselves to extra time and more often than not end in penalty shootouts. But ours was well won without the strain of extra time and the disquiet of a shootout. It was a victory that manifested how our team has continued to grow in strength.

There were scenes of celebration on the pitch when the last whistle was blown. The team rolled in the grass and ran about the pitch. The other students joined in with chants and cries of victory. The technical bench shouted hurrahs and the teachers who had followed the team all the way from the preliminaries up to this final were extremely happy and vowed to follow it even at the regional competitions in Mbarara which were due in a week.

Besides the teachers and students, the school team has always had the following of members of the Kyogyera community. There was an old man with a graying moustache who never missed a match in which we played. Of course, this helps to underscore the strong bond the school  shares with the community. The fans from the community were not left out in the celebration. And when the glistening trophy was presented, they too wanted to touch and feel the reward of a championship triumph.

The route to the championship was a marvellous run of brilliant displays. The team did not concede a goal until the semi-final, and that goal was the only one to have been conceded all through our campaign. Our defensive quartet of Ngonzi Innocent (S.6), Muhwezi Herbert (S.5), Atubo Johnson (S.4) , and Oundo Patrick (S.6) were immensely outstanding. Meanwhile it was a goal’s galore in every match we featured. There was an occasion when we had a dozen goals past one team in the group stages and that was the tournament's highest goal tally in a single match.

 The school team continued its show of might in the regional tournament sponsored by Coca-Cola. We drew once and vanquished all our other opponents on our way to the final where we lost 4-3 on penalties having led one nil for most of the second half only to concede a controversial penalty in the dying minutes of normal regulation time. In spite of the loss, the mood in the camp was a defiant one. The coaches promised a better show at the national level competitions since our runners-up position had guaranteed us a berth in the national competitions in the north-western district of Arua.

Champions