Nigeria Content Online

Last weekend,
disgruntled fans of Premier League club, Kano Pillars attacked players
and officials of Dolphins FC as well as the presiding referee and his
assistants following the conclusion of a league encounter decided at
the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano.

While players and
officials from Dolphins were pelted with missiles on the pitch, the
centre referee Gabriel Adigwe and his assistants were attacked by the
displeased Kano Pillars fans right inside the tunnel as they headed for
the changing room.

The reason behind
the fans’ discontentment was down to their team’s inability to secure a
win over the visitors from Port Harcourt which would have extended
their lead on the league standings over closest rivals, Enyimba who
many are now tipping to end the season as league champions for a record
setting sixth time.

Kano revisited

“I think the fans
were mad that we weren’t able to win the match,” said a Kano Pillars
player who wishes to be anonymous because he was afraid of, as he put
it, being “victimized”.

“I think the referee did his best to be fair to both sides so I don’t think it was fair what happened to him,” he added.

The game itself
witnessed a lengthy stoppage induced by fans’ encroachment on the pitch
midway through the second half which led to referee Adigwe justifiably
extending the game well beyond the stipulated 90 minutes, and it wasn’t
until well into stoppage time before the home side finally cancelled
Dolphins one goal lead courtesy of a penalty kick conversion from the
league’s leading scorer, Ahmed Musa.

Whether the spot
kick awarded to Kano Pillars was justified or whether the referee took
that course of action in order to restore parity in what was obviously
a charged atmosphere is an entirely different issue as the game was not
broadcast live on television. Even at that, there have been claims from
Dolphins that their cameraman was assaulted and his camera destroyed by
the irate fans but there has been no independent confirmation of this.

Stiffer penalties needed

Nevertheless,
league organisers, the Nigeria Premier League, following the report
from the game’s Match Commissioner, swung into action by slamming a
fine of one million naira on Kano Pillars while also ordering them to
pay the sum of two hundred thousand naira each to referee Adigwe, his
two assistants and the match commissioner. In addition to that, the NPL
also ordered Kano Pillars to prosecute their remaining home games in
Calabar with a strict order to effect the payments on or before June 5,
as well as identifying the perpetrators of the ugly incident.

It’s a routine that
has been used on more than a handful of occasions by the NPL in a
season that has routinely been plagued by violence on the part of
football fans.

Clubs like Rangers,
Wikki Tourists and Niger Tornadoes have had to pay similar fines this
season while Ranchers Bees, in addition to the fines, also had five
players and officials receiving a year-long ban from football
activities.

But regardless of
the number of clubs that have been hit with sanctions, it appears clubs
are not doing enough to prevent acts of violence from being perpetrated
by fans at their matches, and if the situation doesn’t abate there’s
every reason to believe that we are yet to hear the last of such
incidents this season especially with the end of the campaign just a
few weeks away as clubs seek every avenue to secure the points needed
to either secure the title or stave off relegation.

One can only hope
that if another incident will occur before the end of the season, it
won’t involve referee Adigwe who was also at the centre back in March
when Niger Tornadoes were forced to a goalless draw in Minna by
visiting Bayelsa United.

“The fans said they
have to beat me up to teach me a lesson because I don’t help them in
their home games. They say that every time I come to their home games,
they always play a draw. I am seriously damaged psychologically and I
don’t know if I can do any match after this without the fear of being
beaten again,” said the Lagos based referee two months ago in an
interview with an online sports magazine.

Adigwe couldn’t be
reached for his own side of the story this time around but his boss at
the Lagos State Referees Council, Tade Azeez feels much more needs to
be done with regards to sanctions on defaulting clubs if the situation
is to be nipped in the bud.

Trouble spots

Azeez who noted
that both Kano and Minna have earned the unenviable reputation of been
“trouble spots for referees” said: “Even if they are told to pay five
million naira in fines it won’t serve as a deterrent for these clubs
because they are all sponsored by their respective state governments
and won’t have any problems paying such amount.”

Azeez also
advocated heavy points deduction for erring clubs as that in his
opinion will be a much stiffer punishment than outright banishment away
from their home stadium.

He added: “I think
deduction of points will work better because if these fans know that
their club will suffer as much as a nine-point deduction for their
actions, which may even lead to eventual relegation, they will learn to
behave.” Points deductions, in this case, a six points deduction, was
also suggested by China Acheru the long-serving media officer of
Dolphins who also advocated for erring clubs to play out not just a few
home games but the rest of the season away from home.

Regarding the fine
imposed by the NPL. Acheru wants a situation where clubs would be fined
a whooping 10 million naira with half of the sum going to the visiting
team while the other half is handed out to the assaulted match
officials.

More police

He also wants increased security at match venues.

“The fine has to
be much more than is obtainable at the moment while the rule stating
that clubs must provide 50 policemen at match venues should be scrapped
for a more realistic figure,” said Acheru in a telephone chat.

The idea of 50
policemen providing adequate security at match venues is incredulous
when compared to the average of 184 officers allocated by the police
for matches in England along with an average of 350 stewards provided
by the home side. For high priority matches, such as the Carling Cup
tie that took place this past season between West Ham and fierce rivals
Milwall, 700 officers and 410 stewards were on ground to provide
security.

“I think they
should be relegated or suffer points deductions but I’m not surprised
we still have acts of hooliganism back home because the security
presence at match venues is grossly inadequate,” said former Nigeria
international Chukwuma Akuneto, who is now a coach based in England.

“If 50 policemen
see about 500 hooligans charging onto the pitch to lay their hands on
say the referee I don’t think they will be able to stop them from
harming the referee. They will probably allow the hooligans to do
whatever they feel like to the referee and hope the referee doesn’t die
from the attack,” he added.

In addition to
having more officers at match venues, Akuneto also advised the league
to make it mandatory for clubs to install close circuit cameras at
match venues while also enlisting the services of safety officers who
will have the responsibility of recruiting stewards from within the
local population to control spectators during matches.

For its part, the
premier legal will be looking at ways to finally eliminate the ugly
trend from the Nigerian league by imposing stiffer sanctions ahead of
the next football season. Although an official of the league body who
spoke to NEXTSports on the condition of anonymity refused to disclose
exactly what these sanctions will be, he did reveal that erring clubs
stand the risk of suffering points deductions or even outright
relegation.