The attention of the Nigeria Referees Association, NRA, has been drawn to a trending video where the referee who handled the Nigeria National League, NNL, Week 4 game in Abuja, involving City FC and EFCC, all of Abuja was assaulted.
In the video gaining attention in the social media, acts not in tandem with the spirit of sportsmanship were seriously displayed.
Preliminary reports from the match officials available to the NRA informs that immediately after the final whistle, fans suspected to be those of one of the teams encroached onto the field of play with sticks and assaulted
the referee by beating him with both sticks and other dangerous weapons which forced him to sustain cuts on his head and developed chest pain.
It took only the intervention of the security personnel around to stop the ugly incident after the referee had sustained severe injuries.
While the association urges the NFF Referees Committee to look into the conduct of the referees involved as the the NRA shall also review their performances in the game, the NNL is requested to not only act on the sad development but institute measures to curb attacks on referees in the second tier league of the country.
Meanwhile, while awaiting the outcome of the decisions of the concerned bodies to the incident, it has become necessary to inform all that the NRA places premium on the safety of the match officials by informing those concerned that consideration is on by the referees’ body to keep away from the grounds of teams where referees are attacked and harassed.
The NRA is of the view that instead of visiting violent conduct on referees, which is an unorthodox means of reacting to outcome of matches, teams are advised to use the proper channels to air their grievances against a referee where they feel otherwise about their decisions.
The NRA assures teams at the domestic scene that based on high level pre season trainings and workshops, continuous monitoring at match venues, appointed referees have the capacity to be fair and firm in their officiating.
The association insists that no amount of harassment and intimidation shall stop referees from good officiating even as heavy penalty awaits members found wanting after verification of their Matches.
