The Copa Coca-Cola schools' cup final in Moyo District turned violent, delaying the highly billed match by about an hour.
The final, pitting traditional rivals Moyo Seconday School and Metu Secondary School turned chaotic over a dispute on which school was to occupy pavilion A or B at Celecelea stadium in Moyo town.
Students from both schools wanted to sit in pavillion A which has well-arranged seats.
To avert the chaos, security officers wrote the letters A and B on two pieces of paper and made two students from both schools to choose. The Metu SS student picked the piece of paper with the letter A but Moyo SS students who were already occupying pavilion A refused to vacate it.
Metu SS students then moved to forcefully replace the defiant Moyo SSstudents causing a chaotic scene as they shoved and beat each other.
It took the intervention of Moyo SS headmaster, David Dima who convinced his students to move to pavilion B and they obliged.
As they moved, they pelted stone missiles at Metu SSstudents who also retaliated with stone missiles. Six Moyo SS students sustained deep cuts on their heads and a horde others sustained minor injuries.
Uganda Red Cross members were on hand to give first aid to the injured.
Metu SS headmaster, Moses Ikuku protested the attacks and wanted the game postponed but he faced stiff opposition from Dima who insisted the organisers needed to boost security at the stadium.
Relative calm returned when the District Police Commander, Ahmed Kimera personally commanded security personnel at the stadium and appealed for calm.
The match, that was to start at 4:00 pm then started at 5:00 pm amidst tight security and acrimonious outbursts from the spectators
The match ended 2-1 in favour of Moyo SS.
Metu and Moyo secondary schools are among the top schools in Moyo and have a long history of academic and sporting rivalry.
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