Interview: David Obua, footballer

Published on Friday 20 November 2009 22:53

DAVID Obua was born in Uganda and educated in part in the United States. He has played club football in America and in South Africa, and has more than a score of international caps.

Well travelled and sophisticated, the 25-year-old is exactly the sort of footballer who might have been expected to fit in quickly when he came to Scottish football. Certainly, when he joined Hearts a little over a year ago, his manager, Csaba Laszlo, made it plain how highly he thought of him, and how pivotal a figure he might become for the Tynecastle club.

But it has not quite worked out like that. Instead, while exhibiting a fair degree of skill and exerting a major influence on some games, Obua has more often been a marginal figure. The Scottish game, he explained this week, makes demands of a player which are altogether different to those which prevail in many other countries.

"It's all Braveheart," Obua said when asked how he would characterise Scottish football. "You have to go out there and fight every day.

"Sometimes you go to a game and the whole 90 minutes you don't play football, you just fight. But that's how the football is. You have to get used to it and try to adapt to the game here."

If those around him on the park have played at times as if they were extras in a battlefield scene, it would not be unjust to say that Obua has often come across as a pacifist. When he has taken hold of a game, it has usually been because of his passing ability, and certainly not because he has imposed himself physically on his opponents.

At his best for Hearts, this midfielder-cum-winger has interchanged well with Andrew Driver, stretching play to drag opponents out of position. But his best, like that of his team, has been seen all too rarely this season, as Laszlo has struggled to equal the impact he made in 2008-09.

Unsurprisingly, given he played for Laszlo at national level and was signed for Hearts by the Hungarian, Obua believes it is vital his manager stays with the club. Having seen the good work put in by Laszlo, the player fears it may all unravel if he leaves the club.

"I think we'd crumble, because he's tried to bring the whole club together. Hopefully, he can stay here and keep doing what he's been doing.

"He was my manager before in the national team. At that time, I was at Kaizer Chiefs (in South Africa] and was at the end of my contract.

"He's helped me, advised me when things were going wrong. He's a coach you can rely on when things are not going right. Any time you want to call him, he'll pick up his phone."

Having said that, Obua also acknowledged that Laszlo's success with Uganda could interest either the SFA or other football associations in need of a new boss.

"He did well in Uganda. It's two different situations, Africa (and] Europe, but he's a good manager and I think Scotland would be glad to have someone like him.

"He brings everyone together, bringing the whole pack together as a team. Sometimes that's what you need when things are going rough. You need someone who can bring all of the guys together, and you can gel better and go out and fight for each other."

Obua suggested that whoever the SFA appoints to succeed George Burley needs to blood as many young players as possible, even if that means more defeats in the short-term. "Of course, they're going to lose more games with the younger players," he said. "But you have to put them in there now because if you don't, where are they going to get the experience from?"

Having been unable to replace the experienced players who left Hearts last summer, Laszlo has been forced to ask a similar question. His team have lost more games than they have won, and today meet a St Johnstone side who are their near neighbours in the bottom six of the SPL.

A dearth of goals has been the main problem for Laszlo this season, and, although he has had no more than the occasional outing in anything like a striker's role, Obua is willing to shoulder some of the blame for that. "For us, the strikers, we haven't been scoring goals. That's the problem.

"We've had the chances. We've worked on finishing on numerous occasions on the training ground, but the ball is just not going into the net.

"Sometimes it really gets to the fans when you're not scoring. That's why you see them boo sometimes. I don't blame them for that."

Obua and colleagues can expect a few more boos today if Hearts fail to score. In their last three SPL matches they have had two goalless draws and a 1-0 defeat – a sequence of results which has put their fans to sleep rather than putting the opposition to flight.