Traffic Paralyzed as Arsenal Fans Parade Replica Trophy in Jinja City

JINJA CITY |URN: Jinja city has experienced traffic standoff for close to five hours this Sunday, due to procession by Arsenal fans parading a replica English premier league trophy.

Arsenal emerged this year’s English premier league champion after months of a tight chase with closest rival, Manchester city.

Arsenal prides in 82 points garnered from 37 games throughout the season. Their premier league title chase comprises of 25 wins, seven draws and five losses.

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This score saw them with four points ahead of Manchester city, who are second placed on the 2025/2026 English premier league table. Manchester city has equally enjoyed a competitive season, with 23 wins, nine draws and five losses, giving them a total of 78 points.

However, with only one game to close the season, Arsenal is already one point ahead of Manchester city and thus this year’s English premier league champion.

Arsenal is expected to officially recieve their trophy back home in London, after their away game against Crystal palace today.

With Arsenal winning the EPL trophy after 22 years of waiting, hundreds of fans from Busoga and different parts of the country have today held festivities in Jinja city, celebrating what they termed as a rare achievement for the club.

Their festivities began with physical exercise at the Busoga kingdom headquarters where most of them had converged by 9:00am.

They then kicked off with a foot march of 2 kilometers, stretching from Busoga kingdom headquarters all through the transnational highway in Bugembe area.

While here, the crowd, which was initially composed of about 1,000 fans, donned in Arsenal’s replica jerseys of different colors were joined by bigger crowds.

These crowds composed of fans on foot, motorcycles and other vehicles.

One of the fans sat on a landcruzer TX vehicle whose number plate had been veiled and he held the replica trophy at a high vantage point, where whoever cared would visibly see it.

Other fans held smaller replica trophies, which they could hold and pose for photos. Prior to setting off from the highway in the areas of Bugembe, the fans were accompanied by booming music system, with victory songs in favour of Arsenal were being played out loud.

The fans walked a five kilometer stretch from Bugembe to Jinja, holding flags of both Uganda and Arsenal as a way of expressing their victorious moment.

Some held green leaves, which they waved in the air, whereas others blew vuvuzelas and whistles in expression of their joy at Arsenal’s achievements.

They also had a first aid vehicle, which attended to all the fans who were either overwhelmed by the long walk or thirsty after their trek under the scorching sun.

Much as the procession was being guided by traffic police personnel who guided fans to reserve space for other road users, most deviated from the guidelines.

This resulted into a traffic standoff, with other road users waiting for the fans to exhaust their mini road celebrations, before proceeding with their journeys.

Their trek climaxed with the slaughtering of 20 cows, which were roasted at different bars and restaurants across Jinja city’s central business district.

Led by Felix Bagiire, the chairperson of Arsenal fans in Busoga, they argue that the wait has been long and these victory parties are worth it.

Bagiire, commonly referred to as Shamlove says that he was aged six years when Arsenal last won the EPL trophy during the 2003/2004 season.

Bagiire says that, growing up with family members who were largely Arsenal fans, he endured distress and ridicule from friends supporting other clubs, which registered positive results at the time.

He notes that the idea of holding a trophy parade is not only an expression for Arsenal’s victory, but also a platform of informing their bigger network of fans that it is possible to better their lives even after encountering longterm delays.

Esther Nakimuli, aged 32 years, says that she is a diehard Arsenal fan, whose dream of witnessing Arsenal lift a trophy during her adulthood has come to pass.

Nakimuli, who is part of the trophy parade organizing committee says that, Arsenal fans have strong leadership structures in all major cities and towns across the country, which eased resource mobilization for their regional festivities.

She adds: “Our fanbase is so big and we pride in this level of brotherhood, which stretches beyond tribal and religious boundaries!”

Meanwhile, the Kiira regional police spokesperson, James Mubi says that the trophy parade organizers were granted clearance from both police and the city security committee.

Mubi says that their route was inspected by traffic police personnel and all parties agreed to play their part in a bid to deter congestion of people in one area, which would risk their health.

He adds any activities which fell short of the set guidelines geared towards stopping the spread of Ebola will be investigated and the culprits arrested.