Crowd Violence: Stakeholder Canvasses Fans’ Education

A football analyst, Mr Bayour Issah, on Tuesday advised the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and clubs to educate fans against pitch encroachment during league matches.

Issah, who gave the advice in Ilorin in an interview the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), lamented the high rate of crowd violence in the ongoing 2011/2012 Nigeria Premier League (NPL).

According to him, a lack of understanding of the rules and regulations that govern soccer in the world is a major factor that leads to crowd violence in Nigeria’s apex league.

“Basically, most of the spectators do not understand the rules of the game and if you and I do not understand the ethics of football, how do you know when a referee defaults.

“These are some of the teething problems that must be solved in recent time.

“Fans need some enlightenment and education indeed, because when you do not know the rules, how do you support a team?” the analyst said.

He claimed that there are 17 laws of the game and the 18th law “is the discretion of the referee”.

“How many of us know the rules, even those that went through the four walls of the university?

“The problem is application. You cannot challenge a judge who sends a criminal to prison after all appeal, because he knows why.

“So, if a referee punishes a player for an offence, fans should not start reacting,” he said.

Issah explained that there might be one or two errors by a referee and urged fans to be patient in expressing their grievances.

It will be recalled that Gombe United had, after their week 30 match in Ijebu-Ode against their hosts Sunshine Stars FC of Akure, complained of crowd violence.

Gombe appealed to the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) to take immediate action to forestall crowd violence for the overall interest and development of the league.

The club said that a situation where visiting teams approached games with fear of brutality would not augur well for the competition.

Also, Enyimba FC of Aba complained to the NPL on how they were allegedly beaten during pitch encroachment at Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, after their Week 26 match with Ocean Boys.

It was also the same experience in Ilorin in the Week 12 between Kwara United FC and Sunshine which led to the game being abandoned in 81st minute.

A re-scheduled Week 28 match between Sunshine and visiting 3SC of Ibadan was also put to a halt for 10 minutes in Ijebu-Ode because of crowd violence.