Ineligible Players Disrupt Lagos League

The use of ineligible players disrupted a match in the ongoing Lagos

State League as the clubs involved accused each other of being cheats.

Bolous FC of Ikeja eventually defeated LSDPC Ilupeju 3-2 in the game on Tuesday and leads the table with nine points from five matches.

The match was played at the Legacy Pitch, National Stadium, Lagos.

The match was interrupted for about 10 minutes following accusations and counter-accusations over the fielding of ineligible players.

They both protested to the match officials who assured them that the complaints would be taken care of later by the disciplinary committee of the state football association.

LSDPC coach Balogun Ganiyu told newsmen that they found out that a player in the Bolous team was registered in another club participating in the Lagos State FA Federation Cup.

“My bench found out that one Ganiyu, a defender, was not eligible to play in the competition because he is a member of another club.

“And we decided to protest right there because it is not legal for any team to do that,” he said.

Aniete Udoh, coach of Bolous, also protested the ineligibility of the LSDPC goalkeeper in the game.

Udoh  said  that the goalkeeper was still a member of his team and had not been fully cleared from the club and as such was ineligible.

“The goalkeeper’s licence is still with my team and that makes him not qualified to play in the league,” he said.

Udoh expressed happiness that his team won in the end.

“I am so excited that we are able to win the game and get our three points because this is a crucial game for us,” he said.

Dotun Coker, a member of the Lagos State Football Association (LSFA), explained that the body

would wait for both teams to formally file their protests before anything would be done.

“There is nothing we can do now until both make their protests official in writing,” he said.

The competition ended yesterday.