The attention of the management of Smartcity FC, Lagos has been drawn to some purported tweets, pictures, and videos, stories making the rounds in some sections of the media, both social and conventional, to be that of Smartcity fans’ pitch encroachment and harassment of match officials and stealing of their valuables and inflicting bodily injuries during a suspended Week 5 fixture with Gateway United, at the Dipo Dina Stadium, Ijebu Ode.
We wish to state unequivocally that Smartcity is a responsible club that would never be involved in such acts of hooliganism which is barbaric and capable of tarnishing and bringing the image of the league to disrepute.
This must be from the figments of the imaginations of the architects of the dastardly acts, whose intentions are yet to be clearly known, other than to malign the reputable image of Smartcity.
1. Smartcity only left Lagos with our players and team officials, no fans left Lagos with the team, so how is it possible that our supporters were present at the stadium to attack the referee?
2. The team has had to grapple with a poorly prepared match venue, as there was no ambulance on the ground, such that a Gateway player collapsed on the field for over 15 minutes, which smart city players and the stadium manager who volunteered and used his personal car to take the player to the hospital.
It was a rude shock, to read from social media that the smart city has been fined by the NNL because the smart city has not been involved in any such act.
3. The lack of adequate security presence at the stadium made it vulnerable to hoodlums and miscreants taking advantage of the situation.
4. The match was suspended but not for the red card given to the smart city player, as being peddled, but the match was abandoned, due to unknown miscreants invading the pitch and causing problems and chaos.
Smartcity, therefore, dissociates and distances itself from any of these malicious allegations being peddled, while also calling on the general public to disregard such claims. Our legal teams have been briefed and they are on the follow-up.
