uganda v. morocco

the uganda national rugby team (the cranes) played morocco today in a world cup 2007 qualifier match. they played at the kampala rugby club, which is where we used to play frisbee until we got kicked off so that the pitch could recuperate enough for the big game. the women (the lady cranes) played first versus kenya drawing about 1/100th of the crowd that came for the men's match. typical. granted theirs wasn't a world cup qualifier, so i shouldn't be too bitter and i didn't actually make it the women's game myself, so really, i am not entitled to my bitterness. but, this is years of build-up, so the bitterness still rears its ugly head.

the crowd covered two sides of bleachers, plus all other space around the field lined 3-4 people deep. it was a good scene - music, dancers, beer, cheering, singing. we sat with the womens team, who got into it louder than anyone.

i knew nothing about rugby (i learned lots from my friend, a former princeton womens rugger, during the game) and was sad that my friend and frisbee teammate, emma, was injured and not playing. regardless, i was quickly swept in. the last seconds of the game, uganda down by 2 fighting to get the ball down across the tri-line, and i was screaming as loud as the rest of them. sadly, it wasn't meant to be...uganda 3, morocco 5. the prediction was uganda 3, morocco 36.

i started learning the ugandan national anthem. kind of hard not to since it was sung multiple, multiple times. here's the lyrics:

oh uganda! may god uphold thee
we lay our future in thy hand
united, free
for liberty
together we'll always stand

oh uganda! the land of freedom
our love and labour we give
and with neighbors all
at our country's call
in peace and friendship we'll live

oh uganda! the land that feeds us
by sun and fertile soil grown
for our own dear land
we'll always stand:
the pearl of africa's crown
101paige 101africa