Paidha Black Angels and Nebbi Central have met and agreed to finally put an end to their bickering and forge a way of moving forward, together.
In a closed door meeting held at Yetu guest house, Nebbi, by top officials of the two clubs this week, they signed a pact with the motive of defending and protecting football development plus the clubs in greater Nebbi that encompasses the districts of Pakwach, Nebbi and Zombo.
The meeting was attended by both presidents, CEOs and fans’ representatives of the two clubs.
Paidha CEO, Sam Kumakech highlighted that they majorly agreed upon reconciliation between the two undoubtedly great Alur footballing giants from the past football conflicts and ‘move on peacefully as brothers and sisters in football’.
Nebbi and Paidha are byfar the best thing that has happened to Alur land, as far as football is concerned. The two teams are the pride of Alur people.
Both sides have been in the FUFA Big League (FBL) before, and Paidha even went upto the country’s top division for a season, but the two teams have since been relegated to the third division, and are now fighting regional wars.
They want to generally remold the greater Nebbi derbies into a more competitive but brotherly affair, not a violent one, as witnessed in the recent past.
Not only Paidha and Nebbi have been quarreling and fighting. For sometime now there has been a huge scramble for dominance, and bragging rights, amongst other reasons, to a certain extent also believed to be political. A derby in the region is basically a war of sorts!
When The Blacks hosted Paidha United at Bar Okoro stadium a few months ago, there was bloodshed. Police had to fire tear gas cannisters and live bullets to disperse the crowds after a nasty fight ensued amongst the two sets of fans, following a referee’s contested decision. It escalated so quick!
Paidha, who were then potential competitors for the number one spot then ended up being docked points and fined heavily. The Blacks consequently surrendered their quest for promotion to the FBL, and resorted to trying again the coming season.
Worst of it all, for Nebbi, who eventually toppped the league, like in the previous season, they, last season again lost by a single goal to nothing in the promotional play off, and the misery would continue – both Nebbi and Paidha will play in the third division next season.
The two most powerful clubs in greater Nebbi have launched a joint effort, they intend to lead by example by taking Alur football back to the top most competitions in in the country, that’s the UPL and the FBL.
Generally, the meeting was intended to foster love, peace and unity that could see them all move to the next level, hand in hand.
In another revelation, another source intimated to this website that there’s also a plan to design a working module that will ensure that both teams get promoted to the FBL over a period of the next two seasons, one after another, for the better of football in the region.
Now, that sounds like a very good idea, but again, the reality of attaining that plan is where all problems might arise from, because, who wants to come second, after the other? A quick guess is that each of the two teams will want to come first.
Besides, there are other teams in Alur land that will also be fighting their own battles, and they wouldn’t just give way to their counterparts, just because they come from within the same boundaries.
Other Alur sides, Nebbi Hot Springs, Paidha United, and the two Pakwach sides (Youngsters and Super Eagles) were also serious regional competitors last season, they’d surely want to try again.
Whereas implementation might be another thing altogether, at least it’s a good motive that the two clubs have realised the need to sit and agree to stop fighting, before it gets out of hand.
