Idris Adesina
The League Management Company has imposed a deduction of three points on Sunshine Stars for continued fans violence during Nigeria Professional Football League matches.
Meanwhile, the league has banned some officials of Kwara United and Katsina United for allegedly engaging in physical brawls after a league match.
Suspected fans of the Akure club last week allegedly attacked match officials after their goalless draw against Kano Pillars at the Akure Stadium which left referee Damian Akure and his assistants with various injuries.
The LMC in a statement on Saturday said it had reviewed a series of past breaches of the competition’s rules by Sunshine from the 2014/2015 season.
The body fined the club N1m, adding that Sunshine would pay N500,000 to the injured match official. The league body added it would deduct additional three points from the club’s total points for the season in case of a recurrence.
“These repeated breaches constitute aggravated circumstances which are considered with a view towards imposing more severe sanctions. It is noted that despite the imposition of a range of corrective sanctions including fines, ‘closed door’ orders and stadium bans, Sunshine Stars has failed to curb these acts of disturbances and contempt for match officials which are capable of bringing the league to disrepute,” the statement signed by LMC Chief Operating Officer, Salihu Abubakar, read in part.
The club were however given 48 hours to appeal the decision.
The LMC in the statement requested the Nigeria Football Federation to withdraw the three match officials involved in the Sunshine/Pillars match from NPFL matches for conducts capable of bringing the league to disrepute.
Referee Akure, who was injured in the attack, and his assistants Apine Emmanuel and Lewis Gwantana were recommended by the LMC to be taken away from the league because they posted and widely circulated photographs showing the injury to one of the assistant referees, which was not adequately captured in the official match report, which was also submitted late.
Also, Kwara United assistant coach Maji Mohammed and Katsina United team manager Ganiyu Adeleke were banned from league match venues for 10 matches after breaching the league’s code of conduct for officials. The officials were alleged to have engaged in a fight after their match at the Ilorin Stadium, which ended 2-1 in favour of Kwara.
However, the LMC lifted the ban placed on some players and officials of FC IfeanyiUbah, who were banned for a year for violent conducts at the Confluence Stadium in Lokoja in their last match of the 2016/17 season against Niger Tornadoes in Lokoja.
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