Nigeria Content Online

Abuja
football fans, on Thursday, condemned the booing of the Super Eagles by
the Lagos crowd during Wednesday’s friendly encounter with the Leone
Stars of Sierra Leone.

Those who spoke
with the News Agency of Nigeria said that jeering at the Nigerian
footballers was inimical to football development. They said that the
attitude could demoralise the players and their handlers. Patrick
Erimona, coach of the Immigration Football Club, and Victoria Nlemigbo,
a football administrator in Abuja, both agreed that the attitude of the
fans was embarrassing. “I think that attitude was what made the Super
Eagles to leave Lagos for Abuja,” said Erimona. “Booing players,
stoning them with pure water after a match, sometimes they will want to
beat them and so on; I don’t think that is good for our football. It is
not encouraging, what we need is to encourage the coaches and players
to do better and not booing them.”

Nlemigbo said:
“During the first half, it was all Eagles they were supporting, then
during the second half, when the game swung in favour of the visiting
team, you were hearing the jeering against us and I don’t think that is
healthy for our own football development. They might say they were
enjoying themselves, but they also helped in demoralising the boys.”

Encouraging result

Michael Atolabi, an
Abuja All-Stars Football Club player, said that the match was a good
one for the Eagles, especially that a home-based player scored the
second goal for Nigeria. He urged the handlers of Nigeria’s national
teams to give more home-based players the opportunity to play for the
team.

Chukwu Alex, also a football player in Abuja, said that the Super
Eagles did their best considering the fact that they were playing
together as a team for the first time. He added that the team would get
better when they play more matches together. The Super Eagles won the
match 2-1 to extend their dominance over the Leone Stars who are ranked
121 as against Nigeria’s 40 on the FIFA world ranking table.