George Desmond Kamurasi saves penalties in the Southern Counties East League, the ninth tier of English football. No one in the stands at SE Dons FC imagined that the 36-year-old goalkeeper, nicknamed ‘Big G’, belonged to Uganda’s Babiito royal family.
Everything changed on August 27, when his cousin Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, king of Tooro, died at the age of 34. Days later, 15 members of the royal committee met in Fort Portal City and chose Kamurasi as the new Omukama. That same weekend, he had started in the FA Cup against Erith Town.
Kamurasi says the Nike Academy discovered him when he was young and that he went on to play for Barcelona with Pep Guardiola watching from the touchline. Now, while he awaits the traditional proclamation that will make him official king, he continues to wear his gloves every weekend in London.