For the love of the game!

What drives 22 grown men to chase after a 32-panel machine-stitched ball in a 100m x 64m area?

More specifically, what motivates 20 or so physically unfit male medical students to challenge physically fit law students for a game of football?

This past Saturday (16th April) at Nsibirwa football field at Makerere University, the 2nd year PBL students from the Faculty of Medicine decided to take time off from their "Guytons", "Snells", and "Neurolocomoter" reading to challenge the 2nd year law students. What was the reason for this challenge? My guess is, that being typical Ugandan men, the medics wanted a forum to validate their masculinity and to nurse their egos!

At first sight, one would assume that the medical students had the upper advantage. They had more palyers, more cheerleaders, and more enthusiam for the match. Furthermore, they had many players on the team who boasted that they could easily outwit, outsmart, and outplay any law student! These same medical students prematuraly dedicated their "intended" goals to their friends and families.

However, I was yet to discover if these preachings would be realized.

At the beginning of the first half, the medics were looking stong and confident; and surprisingly they seemed to be in control of the game.

Humble attempts were made towards the net, but for some reason the forwards had trouble seeing the space between the two wooden goal posts. The midfielders tried with earnest to create plays, but the law team seemed to anticipate the medics every move.

It must be mentioned that the heart of the defense laid in the sweeper, who worked hard to keep the medics in the game. He never failed to correct the many "unforced errors" made by his teammates. Alas, his efforts were reuined by several medic players who could not understand the concept of getting the ball away from the opponent!

Late in the first half, the law students started to get a hold of the medics. They challenged the medics for possession of the ball and had more corner-kicks and free-kicks to increase their chances to score in net. They created more intelligent plays and as a result of their hardwork, the law students were able to penetrate the defence and scored their first goal in the 31st minute.

On the medics side, a sequence of events (that followed this highlight of the match) occured, that would have made Sir Alex Ferguson pull his hair out!

The medics became flat footed, uncoordinated, and lost focus and motivation. On inspection, it seemed that the first goal put a blow to their manhood and ego.

What annoyed me the most was the team's inability to settle the ball and pass it calmly to one another. Everytime a medic touched the ball, he would kick it with no sense of direction and coordination. Its as if the medics on the pitch wanted to send the ball to the streets of Wandegeya and Kawempe!

Moreover, upon kicking the ball their was a lack of power and thought. It was very evident that in the late minutes of the first half the players simply ran out of glucose and ATP and thus, had no energy to focus. Consequently, the first half ended with much dismay from the medics and much cheer from the law students.

The second half began with renewed strength from both sides. Fresh legs were put on the pitch, everyone was well hydrated, and their seemed to be a new-found confidence in the hearts of the medics.

The first 15 minutes looked promising; but the ever present law defence continued to deny the medics a shot on goal. It slowly became obvious that the medics were becoming once again weary and tired. As such, a series of subsitutions occured to replace those individuals who were having chest pains due to the running.

One would think that males in their early 20's would be fit enough to handle at least 45 minutes of running! Yet these men...almost collapsed on the field before the 65th minute!

Unfortunately, due to the constant rearrangement of the team and lack of communication on the field by the medics, the law students placed another blow in the hearts of the medics. A second goal entered into the medics net as a result of a free-kick from a smart law student.

Ironically, this goal richocheted of the chest of a medic to enter the net!

It was at this point in time that my expectations of a potential victory from the medical students, were slowly drowned into the depths of the Nile River never to be revived again.

Within minutes, a 3rd goal entered and it was evident that the law students sealed the game. Despite this obvious disadvantage, the medics continued to play for the sake of their manhood. Though their game resembled a pack of chickens running around with their heads cut-off, the medics played with earnest to attempt at least one shot in goal before the end of the match.

In the end, the medics suffered a 3-0 thrashing from the law students.

Though the match did not display the drama of a typical English Premiership game, it was nice to watch a game that was played not for money...but for the love of the game!