Closed-Door Games: Gombe Utd Fans Plead For Review

Barred from entering the stadium for the past three home matches, fans of Gombe Utd FC, have lamented missing their darling team playing home at the ultra modern Pantami Township Stadium, Gombe.

Gombe Utd played its third home match last Sunday against Dolphins of Port-Harcourt “behind closed doors”, as fans and supporters had been barred from watching, due to alleged unruly behaviour by the club’s supporters in a previous match with Shooting Stars of Akure.

One of the supporters, Munir Musa, told newsmen at the gate of the stadium that he felt bad being deprived of the opportunity to watch and cheer his club.

“We spend money transporting ourselves to cheer the team in away matches. Yet I cannot do same in games being played at my backyard. It is painful”, he said.

Another fan, Murtala Aliyu, who arrived at the gate of the stadium at 2 p.m., said that he and his colleagues were treated like criminals for entering the stadium ‘by chance’.

“The back gate was opened for journalists and other officials, so we seized the opportunity to rush in, but were fished and sent out by gun and baton wielding policemen ‘’he complained.

Aliyu state that without spectators, the league had been stripped off of its entertainment value.

“You can imagine a Premier league match without drumming, whistling, dancing and occasional release of verbal missiles. It is simply just flat, as flat as tea without sugar.

“Even those watching it over the television will not find the empty seats pleasing to their eyes”, he analysed.

Other spectators who spoke, called on the football authorities to find other ways of punishing clubs, noting that barring spectators also affected gate-takings.

In his remarks on the issue, the Assistant Secretary of Gombe FA, Musa Sule, said although they were managing the situation, Gombe Utd would have been better off with cheering supporters at the stadium.