On April 28, 2023, Wakiso Giants visited Express at Mutesa II stadium, Wankulukuku in the premier league with two players, George Kaddu and Hassan Ssenyonjo on two yellow cards.

In the game that ended in a one-all draw, Kaddu was booked in the 31^st minute as per the club records, UPL Match Agent records confirmed by the referee and other sites that gave live coverage of the match which meant he was to miss the next fixture as per competition rules that suspend a player with three accumulated bookings for the next played match.

Twenty-four hours to the next match (vs BUL on May 01, 2023), the Fufa CMS, a central registry for registered players, cautions, send offs and other related issues concerning players showed Kaddu available and Ssenyonjo who was never booked in the Express game as unavailable.

The club then raised the issue with the UPL and on consultation with the filed match report, the referee instead indicated Ssenyonjo was booked and not Kaddu as club and other records showed.

In the end, it was ruled that the referee’s match report overrides any other records including club stats and Ssenyonjo sat out the match instead of the culprit Kaddu.

In the ongoing season, UPDF was forced to miss Christopher Kamagu in the draw with KCCA after the referee’s match report in the previous game versus Wakiso Giants showed he was booked yet in reality, he wasn’t among the booked players and the official report from the match officials presided over the club records.

By upholding these decisions against Ssenyonjo (Wakiso Giants) and Kamagu (UPDF) who in reality were eligible to play, the UPL and Fufa competitions department upheld article 13 (a & c) of the Fufa competition rules that talks about ‘Centralization of Sanctions’

1. Says that the Fufa Competitions department shall be official central registry of cautions, send offs, fines and sanctions.

Then c) says that ‘the real time records at the Fufa Competitions Department shall be deemed the correct records of Cautions, Send-offs, Fines, and Sanctions for all competitions organised and authorised by Fufa.

What precedent does the Gavin Kizito ruling set?

With violation to competition rules by both the Fufa Disciplinary Panel (FCDP) and the Appeals Committee, it is now evident that club records (right or wrong) supersede the official match records at the registry given the ruling.

This implies that a club has a right to field a player they are sure is not suspended in their own records even if the central registry says otherwise.

And by the CDP looking at video evidence in the NEC match in a league where Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) is nonexistent, it means that a team can use video evidence to change things including results.

For instance, video replays in the KCCA 2-1 win over Wakiso Giants this season showed Emmanuel Anyama’s winner didn’t cross the line. Can the authorities at Fufa look at the video and overturn the result? Your guess is as a good mine.

What are some of other Fufa decisions in the past that are awkward?

Fufa sanctions Sadam Juma move to KCCA outside of window (May 2017)

• Decision: Ibrahim Sadam Juma was released by Fufa to join KCCA from Express in May 2017, outside of the transfer window.
• Outcome: The player could neither feature for either club domestically or on the continent until the next registration window.

Fufa Disciplinary Panel orders replay between Ondu and KCCA (Dec 2021)

• Decision: Contrary to article 10 of the Fufa Competitions Rules about Hooliganism, section (b), the FA Disciplinary Panel ordered for a replay of the abandoned game between Onduparaka and KCCA.
• The game had ended prematurely in Arua after home fans stormed the pitch in protest of a late penalty awarded to KCCA
• Outcome: Each club was given 2.5 million by Fufa to cater for expenses of the replay played at neutral Bombo.

Fufa orders replay of abandoned Uganda Cup final between KCCA and SC Villa (June 2015)

• What: KCCA players walked off the pitch protesting atrocious refereeing decisions by Donney in the final at Ntungamo as Villa led 1-0.
• Decision: Fufa, through President Moses Magogo ordered a replay of the whole match at Namboole but upheld all bookings and send-offs from the abandoned match with KCCA missing up to four players who were sent off in the match. Only Hakim Ssenkumba was shown a red card but Donney included three more in his report which was carried over.
• Outcome: Both teams accepted a replay, officiated by Kenyan match officials with KCCA losing 3-0 in the match played at Namboole on June 16.

Fufa orders replay of BUL vs SC Villa in the Uganda Cup (Feb 2023)

• What: Villa lost 1-0 to BUL in the Uganda Cup quarter finals in 2023 but had a goal wrongly disallowed in the match and they protested.
• Decision: A replay was set with the Fufa Disciplinary Panel stating that in the match report, the Fufa Referees Disciplinary Panel revealed assistant ref Khalid Muyanga errored in cancelling the Villa goal.
• Outcome: The match was replayed with Villa still losing the match to BUL.

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