I like football, I have always liked it, in fact I love it. My love for game was not inborn but when you come from a family of six, and you are the only girl, you tend to rhyme with the boys. So my brothers except one who is obsessed with basketball would watch football day in, day out.

The then UTV would air football Mundial, world cup, Africa cup among others, so I found myself watching football with my extended family as well.

When I was in high school, the love matured from meager liking, my school bought us DSTV and the rest is history, Arsenal were dominating, I would watch the games and read the papers and it didn’t hurt that the players were handsome, Thierry, Bergkamp, Pires, Mayer, Viera. So I started understanding the game, each rule, semi rule and regulations, the off sides, penalties, free kicks the tackle, the sliding tackle so that I would not be caught off guard.

That was over 14 years ago, and I am still hooked to the game. I love to watch Arsenal because it’s the team that made me love the game. I share the same passion for my Country side, the Uganda Cranes though they break our hearts many times, they  unite us,  bring us together as a nation, all religions and tribes cheering to a common goal is the best feeling a patriot can have.

I always watch our national games hosted in Mandela National stadium- Namboole because of the dancing and singing and the stadium euphoria is not the same as watching on television.

Let’s face it, Football is perfect, it has lots of beefy handsome guys mixing it up, a divisional system that creates exciting rivalries, odds-makers who produce underdogs and some amazingly good-looking players- a girl’s dream. My dream football player is Gonzalo Higuain who currently plays for Napoli)

Maybe it’s because they don’t know enough about the game or the individual teams to decide which team they’d like to see win.

I believe that any sporting event is more fun to watch if you’re rooting for one side or the other because of the competitive spirit among the other fans in the stadium, sports bar or in the living room.

I encourage those girls that do like or love football, to always watch with other friends who share the passion for the sport so that they can discuss at half time or at the end of the game the talking points of the match. It also doesn’t hurt that making new friends and having a great time with a few beers may lead to great relationships that last the taste of time.

One may not like football but for a few of us who do, we certainly enjoy every moment of it. We stay up late to watch late night games, some of our boyfriends may think we are have “extra-curricular activities”  but in the end it’s the love of the game with family and friends that makes the moments magical and memorable.