A MUST READ.........DETAILED RESEARCH, INDEPTH ANALYSIS.......

Another referee this time,was assaulted on the first day of resumption of the new NIGERIA
PREMIERLEAGUE SEASON OVER THE WEEKEND 14,15th January 2018.. SPORTSDISCOURSE WROTE A
TIMELESS PIECE ON THE CONTINUOUS BATTERING OF OUR REFEREES,
REASONS WHY MOST OF THEM HAVEN'T BEEN OFFICIATING ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE, WHY THE
GROUP LED BY TADE AZEEZ IS A TOOTHLESS LION AND THE NEED FOR
REFEREES TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.


ARTICLE
Bose Momoh a FiFA badged referee and one of the match officials in the match between HOST Wikki Tourist of Bauchi and Premier League defending champions Rangers International Football Club of Enugu, was attacked during this match and she was left with a serious injury to her eye…. This has been the norm is many of the venues of our NPFL…

The attack on referees have been rampant in the Nigeria Premier Football League. Fans, mostly “unidentified”, have taken turns to attack the officials at will and have given the flimsy excuse of bad officiating and orchestrated plans by the referees to ruin their season.

NIGERIA REFEREES ASSOCIATION

Below is the press statement issued by the leadership of Nigerian referees,

“The Nigeria Referees Association protested the development, calling for protection for referees and tougher sanctions for clubs whose fans attack referees during games.”

The above statement credited to the leadership of the NRA is lame, in the light of current and past events which the Nigerian referees have been subjected to. They have been assaulted severally, wounded, harmed, beaten to coma, etc over the years, their lives have been threatened over the years, before, during and after games.

All Tade Azeez led NRA could do is to issue a statement calling for protection and tougher sanctions for clubs whose fans attack referees during games and they call that a protest? Is it not TIME to pull the referees OUT of the league as a mark of seriousness to show the NRA’s disdain for these acts of evil that have been perpetrated against their members?

It seems it has become NORMAL to assault a referee because over the years the football authorities have barked endlessly and and haven’t bitten anyone, most especially when the offenders are linked to state owned teams (we have about 16 of them in the NPFL).Teams involved have been treated with kid gloves and the NRA behaves like lame ducks, while their members continue to face the firing squad of unruly clubs,their irate and irresponsible fans. The fans that ought to show their displeasure towards their club management for their club’s abysmal display, are sometimes incited by the so-called officials against the referees to cover their lack of professionalism in the running of the club’s affair.

What amuses one is the fact that it has become the norm for NRA to issue press releases, shout with no practical action to SAFE GUARD the lives of its members when they go to the WAR FRONT for that is what the league has become especially towards the end of the second stanza.

OFFICIATING AND SECURITY
For the life of me, how do we expect a referee to be free and fair when his life is threatened, his safety not guaranteed and security utterly compromised. When the security details at the stadium stand and watch as thugs (90.9% on the instruction of the home teams) release terror on match officials. The win-at-all-cost mentality has totally destroyed our moral and ethical fabric and we are ready to do ANYTHIN.......

to read the REST of the fully loaded, well researched article GO TO

http://www.sportsdiscourse.com/continuous-battering-of-nigerian-referees-must-stop-now/