Imo Strikers /Lakeside Cracker: NRA Urged To Review the Performance of Ogun State Referee

By : Sunday Agunbiade (MrVAR)

Match Day 1 of Nigeria Women Football League(NWFL) between Imo Strikers and their counterpart, Lakeside which held at FC Ebiede Stadium, Shagamu on Saturday 8th July, 2023 might have come and gone, but the overall assesment of the Ogun State Referee Council arbiter(name withheld for security reasons) appears less than desired , hence a call for proper assessment for the ongoing tournament not to lose its taste.

                                                                            Why some were of the opinion that arbiter might have been induced, some football fans noted that the rules of the game might have been temporarily suspended by the Referee

                                                                                                                                                              The obvious distasteful moment which stakeholders saw as a proportional impact in the tie was an infringement earlier commited by Lakeside forward committed but surprisingly adjudged as penalty against the defending team . It nearly resulted to mayhem owing to the fact that the incident changed the outcome of the results for the Owerri based outfit. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Suffice to say that under this IMC,Referees have improved tremendously because of prompt payment of indemnities, a 100 per cent increment by IMC led by Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye in terms of their allowances which was the stimulation of the better and improved league we are seeing at the moment.

The question now is what happens to referees who are expected to maintain a fair play and making binding decisions on the application of soccer laws?

The head referee works together with the assistant referees, who are responsible for watching the lines and ensuring that the game is fair.

Sometimes, rarely, a referee's decision coincides with the will of the fans, but even then he does not succeed in proving his innocence. The defeated lose because of him and the victorious win in spite of him", wrote the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano in his book El futbol a soly sombra.

The main duty of a referee is to monitor the game and enforce fair play. Referees have the power to penalize players with yellow or red cards, to stop or terminate play due to risk factors, and to assess fouls and penalties.

The referees are also responsible for keeping time and providing a match report to the league officials.

Referees try to keep players safe. This means that if a player is injured or bleeding, a referee stops play and ensures that the player is removed or attended to on the field. This protects both the injured player and his teammates.        

                                                                                                                                                             Here are the few reactions of keen followers of Nigerian football across Major Sports patforms:

"The foul is aganst the attacker wearing yellow jersey . It is foul and caution by pulling jersey of the defending player who was already in front of him. Pulling the opponent jersey gave him advantage to win the ball . So, the referee should have stopped play , caution the attacker and award direct free kicks aganst his team. I don say my mind oooo so another person. Good morning all and happy sunday. One of the coaches who doesn't want his name on print.

Not a penalty because the player in yellow Jersey had committed an infringement(pulling an opponent by his Jersey) before his own incident that led to the purported penalty. The first foul(pulling of opponent by his Jersey) was the legitimate foul against the Lakeside striker in yellow Jersey.

"This kind of performance by this umpire was extremely far below belt by every standard of the rules of the game. The visual point was uploaded and reviewed by Football gladiators " Segun Adetunji

"I think as we are trying to rebuild our football , if they allow this kind of official to continue officiating this tourney, then ,Nigeria Football will be back in miles ". Ngozi Chinyere

"Without mincing words, this is a quintessential example of a Nigerian referee who is giving a bad image to the arbiters. Suleiman Ariyo

The reports of the Match Commissioner in this scenario will help a great deal in unearthing the true position" Akinwale Tosin

Referee committee should please make a statement on this outing I beg as the referee just exposed the underlying fears of change not fully coming to the NRA .. Subair Adams

Lakeside won the encounter 3-2 against Imo Strikers as the Match Day 2 continues on Sunday (today) with the teams observing rest day on Monday

More about the Championship 

A total of 12 clubs are slugging it it out for the two promotional slots to the premiership while two bottom placed teams will be relegated to the NWFL Nationwide League.

Two stadia picked as match venues for this year’s tournament are Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne and FC Ebiede Stadium in Sagamu – both in Ogun State, South West NIgeria.

The Participating Teams.

Prince Kazeem Eletu FC

Honey Badgers FC

Kwara Ladies FC

Ekiti Queens FC

Imo Striker Queens FC

Dreamstar Ladies

Sunshine Queens FC

Lakeside Football Academy

Delta Babes FC

Pelican Stars

Dannaz FC

Moje Queens