Arua Hill FC decline proposal to host games at Greenlight stadium

Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Arua Hill Football Club has rejected a proposal by the Federation of Uganda Football Association-FUFA to host their Uganda Premier League matches at the Greenlight stadium, the home of their rivals Onduparak FC.

While releasing the 2022 Uganda Premier League fixtures, the league secretariat indicated that Arua Hill would host its first games at Greenlight stadium.

FUFA’s deputy CEO in charge of football, Decolus Kiiza explained to URN that the federation took the decision after the FUFA stadiums inspection committee found Barifa unfit to host standard FUFA games and consequently did not approve it.

However, Arua Hill Chief Executive Officer-CEO Anthony Feti, says that they were never consulted by the Federation before the decision to schedule some of their matches at Greenlight stadium was reached despite admitting that Barifa stadium failed to pass the licensing requirements.

He however said that they have since addressed some of the issues raised during the inspection exercise. “Whatever they asked us to fix at Barifa we have fixed it, right now my focus point is Barifa I don’t have to have a second thought,” he added.

Asked whether Arua Hill FC had tried to reach out to Onduparaka FC to host some of their games at Greenlight stadium. “We did not talk to Onduparaka and we are not even willing to talk to them because we can’t host our games there. Even if the stadium does not qualify, I don’t think we shall use Greenlight stadium,” Feti told URN.

Onduparak FC has also questioned how the federation arrived at the decision to schedule some of the matches of their rivals at their facility without consulting their management.

“There is also no record of any request/agreement between Onduparaka FC and Arua Hill SC to the effect that the latter acquires the rights to use Ababet Greenlight stadium”, Onduparaka management said in a statement earlier.

FUFA could not explain how it ended up awarding Arua Hill the rights to host its games at the Greenlight stadiums without seeking authorization from the owners. FUFA Deputy CEO Decolus Kiiza says that Arua Hill will now have to look for an alternative stadium to host its games.

How it started

Earlier this year, FUFA sanctioned Onduparaka FC for what the Federation referred to as “repeated offenses of fans’ hooliganism” after their fans broke the stadium fence and invaded the pitch last season during the match with Arua Hill, a thing that forced the referee to halt the match

On June 14th, 2022, FUFA resolved to deduct two points and two goals from Onduparak FC. They also resolved that Onduparaka will play their first five 2022/2023 league home games behind closed doors and in a stadium outside the West Nile Province.

Although Onduparaka appealed the decision by the FUFA Disciplinary committee, the Appeals Committee upheld the decision. The FUFA Appeals Committee established that Onduparaka FC did not furnish sufficient evidence to convince the Committee to overturn the decision.

According to the fixtures released by the league secretariat, Onduparaka will host the first home games at Bombo Military Barracks while Arua Hill will use Greenlight stadium which belongs to Onduparaka.

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URN