By Agatha N Biira
All his life up until senior four, Alex Aturinda played football just like most boys. In 2014, while in senior four at Ntare School, he fractured his tibia during one of the football games, forcing him to retire from the sport.
“I felt like it was a dangerous sport that would expose me to an injury that would cost me a lifetime,” he said.
Aturinda recalls the first rugby game he watched in 2011, in his senior one. “When the school team was training, one of the players knocked someone, and they even bled,” he said. “I swore never to play rugby in my life.”
Surprisingly, Aturinda stopped playing football and joined rugby, which is considered a dangerous game by many. “When I was recovering, that was the same time my friends started persuading me into playing rugby,” he said.
That year, he was asked by the rugby captain of his house, Ernest Akorebirungi, to join their team during inter-house competitions. “I had never played rugby, but I was told that I only had to run when given the ball.” “I agreed since there wouldn’t be a lot of contact,” he said.
Akorebirungi said that at the time he found Aturinda to be a strong person and reasonably athletic, so he thought he would make a good rugby player. “I asked him a number of times to join us and play, but he would always say no. I was happy to know that he had continued with the sport even when he changed schools. He has the patience and discipline to learn the sport. He is where he is because of hard work and dedication.”
He played rugby again when he joined Mbarara High School for his senior year in 2015. At the time, he was sharing a room with the school rugby team captain, Andrew Bamwesigye (Bombazi), who asked him to join the school team since there were free slots. “He always made sure that I trained, and he would follow up when I missed,” he said.
Bamwesigye, who now plays for Rhinos Rugby Club, said Aturinda was more interested in football at the time while he was more interested in rugby. “I needed someone who I could play with and who would remind me to go and practice. So, I talked him into playing rugby and taught him the basics, but he was more into football,” he said.
“Outside of the game, he is a very supportive and trustworthy friend.” He is someone who will push you to be better. I want to see him go international.
While there, he represented the school in the Uganda Secondary School Association (USSA) games and the secondary school sevens, where they qualified for the East African Games, but he did not take part. He didn’t play again until 2017.
Joining Uganda Christian University (UCU) in 2017 to pursue a Bachelor of Procurement and Logistics Management opened more opportunities for Aturinda. After going back to his “first love,” soccer, his friends kept asking him to join them in rugby practice. “I later realized maybe rugby was the game for me,” Aturinda said. “So, I started playing again.”
Asked why he chose to continue with rugby, Aturinda said it is an addictive game. “It is hard to understand the rules of one game, which makes you want to go back to it and learn more,” he said.
Pool Karungi, one of the friends that influenced him to play rugby, said when he first saw Aturinda playing football, he didn’t think he would make it to the university team. “He was good, but the team had better players,” he said. “He was big, and I thought he would make a better rugby player.” So, I told him to just cross and join us in rugby.”
He played for UCU in the championship season of 2018. Thereafter, he signed up for a one-year deal with Walukuba Rugby Club in Jinja, where he played in the 2018–19 season with the help of his coach at the time, Leonard Lubambula.
Lubambula described Aturinda as a brilliant athlete who always wants to better himself. “All the years I coached him, he executed leadership skills and was always at the forefront of any team decision, leading his teammates to better performance,” he said.
“I believe a few years from now, he will be one of the best 7s rugby coaches. He has got that passion to better his peers, and for me, this pushes me to help him transition into an incredible coach in the years to come.”
In the same year, 2018, he got a call-up for the Uganda Rugby Cranes—Fifteens, but he didn’t take it up. When asked why he didn’t, Aturinda said, “I felt like I was still small for the position I was supposed to play.”
As a youngster, his dream was to play for one of the big clubs in Uganda, and he got his chance. In 2019, he joined the Stanbic Black Pirates, of which he has been a part since then. “At the time, the people on the team were my age, and I felt like I would easily relate to them and fully express myself,” he said.
As much as the opportunity came with a lot of pressure and tight competition, Aturinda was confident that he would play for them. He is now going into his fourth season as a player on the team.
Aturinda was called up to the national sevens team in 2019, and he began training with them in 2020. In 2021, during one of the games, Pirates vs. Rhinos, he fractured his jaw. “I was getting up, and my jaw collided with someone’s knee who had come to protect the ball,” he said.
This injury ruled him out of games for close to three months, therefore delaying his first appearance on the national team. Because he was the only player on the team who took longer to appear, it was upsetting for him to see his teammates train and play without him.
He made his first appearance for the national team in 2022 at the Common Wealth Games in Birmingham, UK. In the same year, he participated in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, the Rugby Sevens World Cup, and the HSBC games in Dubai and Cape Town.
Aturinda talking about how he felt when he first represented the country
A formidable force on the pitch, combining physical strength and a reserved personality, Aturinda plays as a loose forward for the Stanbic Black Pirates and the Uganda Rugby Sevens teams. He possesses good speed, agility, and a strong ball grip, which make him fit for the role.
In rugby, he has found a sense of belonging. Besides being disciplined, it has helped him cut out bad habits. “I don’t drink or smoke,” he said.
Aturinda wants to inspire the young players. “I want to be good so that one day someone can say they want to play like I did,” he said. He also hopes to play for the Uganda Rugby Cranes 15s team someday.
However, just like any other sportsman, he says, “Sportsmen in Uganda are not yet as highly valued as compared to those in other countries,” which is a challenge.
For the past year, Aturinda has been assisting as a coach for the UCU rugby team. “It gives me joy seeing some of the students on the team join clubs such as Walukuba,” he said.
Trevor Masaba, the captain for the UCU rugby team describes Aturinda as a very friendly and approachable person who encourages players to get better at the game. He recalls a time when he wanted to quit rugby because of the criticism he was receiving as a captain.
“I had a chat with him before I could give up. He told me to work hard and prove my worth. “I never looked back, and I am far better now,” Masaba said.
