SOC Chairman, Mr Nsereko Deogratius Kayongo highlights briefly the role of the commission and how the league is organised.
Ground Sports engaged newly appointed Sports Organizing Commission Chairman Mr Nsereko Deogratious to find out what plans the commission has before the start of volleyball activities mentioned in the recently announced calendar
Why does UVF need the Sports Organizing Committee?
“It is mainly a constitutional requirement to have the Sports Organizing Commission, SOC. The UVF board has the powers to appoint a group of specialists to fulfil certain duties, this is defined in the constitution, and to advise the board and executive on technical matters of the sport,” said Mr Nsereko Deogratious.
However, SOC is explicitly mentioned in the constitution to be responsible for:
• Organizing national and international competitions.
• Handling disputes that may emerge from competitions.
• The national league.
• Handling the transfer and the registration of players.
• Bylaws and regulations for the game.
• Disciplinary action in liaison with the general secretary.
There are different tiers in the National Volleyball League, how do you manage to
organize events across all tiers?
“What you rightly so-referred to as tiers, we officially use the term “series”,” said Mr Deogratius.
The organization of the league across all the series greatly depends on the following:
• The number of teams in each series, both men and women.
• The time available for the league. This can be affected by the other events, either local or
international, that are scheduled on the calendar.
• The location of the clubs that are to take part in the league.
• The availability and capacity of the venues during the season.
“All the factors listed above, are taken into account when organizing the league, some may take precedence over the league or vice versa. However, those factors may vary from year to year, which means that every league is somewhat unique in the way it is organized. Since most of the teams and high-capacity venues are located in metropolitan Kampala, a fixture is made available before the start of the league, and it’s updated or modified timely, depending on the prevailing circumstances that may affect it,” Mr Deogratius added.
As the Chairman of SOC, UVF expects you to select members on your commission. Can
you disclose or at least hint on who will make your team?
“After selecting the people that I would want to work with on the commission, I have to present their names to the UVF Board for ratification. However, at this point in time, they are Andrew Ekusai, Flavia Umuhoza and Jackline Katushabe,” Mr Deogratius added.
There have been concerns raised by clubs when it comes to venues of league games.
How do you plan to address these issues, should we expect the same Mukono – Nkumba
venues or something that will favour all teams?
“As mentioned earlier, venues are chosen depending on those factors that affect the way the league is organized. However, clubs are given audience at a meeting held every beginning of the season, the managers’ meeting, during which some of those matters are discussed at length and practical solutions are presented. Furthermore, it was from such a meeting, that the clubs, through their managers, suggested such an arrangement of Mukono – Nkumba as mentioned. All in all, the raised concerns will be address in the Club Manager’s meeting held before the start of the league,” Mr Deogratius added.
We saw the men’s league with 3 Series but only one for the women which made games like
Nkumba–A Vs CVA a little boring. How will you address the issue of that gap in
the competition level?
“At the start of the 2019 league season, a decision was made to split the women’s series into 2 series, Series A and Series B, using the team ranking at the end of that year. Series A would contain the top 8 ranked teams and the rest would be in the Serie B. The ranking used would be that of end of season league table standing. The issue of the competition gap at times can be hard to predict before the start of the season because transfers greatly affect the composition and competitiveness of the teams,” Mr Deogratius added.
UVF has expectations from SOC but this is a two-way traffic. What as SOC do you expect
from the federation?
“What I mainly expect from the federation is the funding and other tools like equipment that I need to successfully run the events,” Mr Deogratius added.
What Budget does a commission like SOC require to run the NVL?
“For the National Volleyball League alone SOC’s budget is about UGX 10 million,” Mr Deogratius ended.
The National Volleyball League is set to begin in September this year and as always Mr Nsereko Deogratius Kayondo together with his commission members from SOC will organise the competition.
