Code of Silence & Nondisclosure

The boy who received a football players’ scholarship yet never played a single match

[The Siniya Code of Silence and Non-Disclosure does not permit the identification of the student in this story, nor does it allow the beneficiary to disclose his identity or publicly acknowledge the support he received. Anyone who witnessed these events is respectfully requested not to identify either the student or themselves. Please respect the code.]

Back to the boy’s story

Time and date: Not disclosed.
Place: Kigezi College Butobere (Siniya).
Story: True life.
Games Teacher: Self.

At Siniya, we were always looking for talented footballers. At one point, we began recruiting promising players from other schools by offering them full tuition bursaries to join our football programme. But there was a problem. Some of the players recommended by our scouts turned out not to be as good as they had been made out to be. In fact, we began to suspect that some of our scouts might have been exchanging scholarship opportunities for money, resulting in students of questionable football ability being recruited.

We therefore decided to change the system.
In consultation with the student sports committee, we agreed that all available football scholarships would be put back on the table. Instead of simply relying on recommendations, every interested student would undergo a scientific fitness and football skills assessment. The best five candidates would receive scholarships, regardless of whether they were newly recruited players or already students at Siniya. One of the assessments involved measuring each candidate’s pulse rate and blood pressure before and after an intense, timed and measured physical activity.

Then came the boy.

He was not known as a football player. Nevertheless, the opportunity was open to everyone, so there was no reason to exclude him from the tests. He participated like the other candidates.

But when his results were checked, something was seriously wrong. His blood pressure was dangerously high. We panicked. We immediately called the school driver, and the boy was rushed to hospital. What had started as a football scholarship assessment had suddenly become a medical emergency. He had to spend the night in hospital while doctors worked to bring his blood pressure under control.

Further investigations revealed something we had not known.

The boy was under tremendous social and financial pressure. Problems at home had reached a point where his guardians could no longer afford his school fees. For him, winning a sports bursary was not simply an opportunity to play football. It was potentially his only chance to remain at school. We took the matter to the school administration.

After considering his circumstances, it was agreed that the boy would be granted a football players’ bursary on compassionate grounds. There was, however, one condition. Because of his health, he was not to participate in competitive football. And so, something rather unusual happened. A boy who had never been known as a footballer received a football player’s bursary. He retained that support and was able to complete his secondary education at Siniya without dropping out. He never played competitive football for the school. Yet, in a very real sense, football saved his education.

That is the story of the boy who received a football players’ bursary without ever kicking a football in any competition from 1997 to 2002. This is one of those stories that has stayed with me. I cannot reveal the boy’s identity. I will not reveal the time or date. And, in keeping with the Siniya Code of Silence and Non-Disclosure, I will not reveal the names of those who were involved.

Some stories are not meant to identify people. They are meant to remind us why we do what we do.