- By Ajani Adebayo
It was a violent brawl between Sunshine Queens Football Club of Akure in Ondo State and their counterpart, the Ekiti Queens Football Club on Wednesday 17th of April, 2024 when hoodlums suspected to be supporters of the host team were freely allowed to stormed the stadium to attack the visiting players and their officials in the ongoing Week Thirteen of the Nigerian Women Premier Football League (NWPFL).
Amidst seriously rancor, the players were able to play first half but couldn’t commence the second half as the hoodlums held match officials hostage until seven minutes to the end of the second half.
However, when they were eventually allowed to come out of the dressing room and commence the match, the centre referee insisted that the exact and normal 45minutes must be play amidst the security lapses which the visiting team immediately reported to the national secretariat in Abuja.
TopNews gathered that, crisis brewed up when the management of Akure Township Stadium locked all the players and the officials from Ekiti out of the stadium arena, granting only their players entry till around 3:15pm as against the football rules and the agreement reached during the pre-match meeting earlier held in the morning.
The stadium thugs were seeing all around harassed, molested and beat up the Media Officer of the visiting team and almost damage other Journalists’ cameras including phone gadgets so as to prevent them from recording the match.
They insisted that the visitors should stop recording and livestreaming the match, the decision which infringed upon the right of the visiting team as stipulated in the football rules and regulations in Nigeria.
Reports also have it that Ekiti Queens scored a goal in the first half of the game, but was unlawfully disqualified by the Centre Referee during the encounter without giving any genuine reason for cancelling the goal.
It was observed that only two policemen were on ground in uniform during the match instead of twenty (20) security personnels as approved by the governing body of NWPFL in order to ensure the security of lives and properties during any matches.
Investigation revealed that the attacks they launched on Wednesday was not limited to Ekiti Queens FC as such unwarranted occurrence had earlier happened before between them and Rivers Angels FC where the visiting team defeated Sunshine Queens FC with 1nil after series of harassment, intimidation and humiliation from the host side.
The NWPFL body and other concerned stakeholders needs to look into this development with all seriousness so as to protect the image and integrity of both the local and Nigerian leagues as well as develop it in all ramifications.
