While trying to put myself together and come up with a piece on the unfortunate situation that happened in Sani Abacha Stadium last Sunday during a league duel involving Kano Pillars Football Club and the visiting Plateau United Football Club from Jos, a write up written by one Nafiu Abba Diso piped into my inbox.
Though written in Hausa, Abba Diso had x-rayed what happened on that fateful day, castigated those behind and warned about its reoccurrence.
In fact, I salute his courage and judgement because what he put down was exactly what was in my mind. It was like we had a meeting before, discussed it and came up with a common position.
I am sure my readers are not unaware about the sad incident that happened last Sunday during Pillars Vs Plateau United league match in Kano.
Kano Pillars versus their visitor’s match is a match in which many would like to watch, but the lots of many infringements that were committed by the Kano Pillars Football Club supporters spoiled it with so many infractions which hampers the smooth running of the Match.
Kano Pillars first fault which did not go down well with the league board was the misconduct of their supporters which led to the delay in broadcasting the match live.
The supporters of Kano Pillars also erred when they engaged into throwing objects into the pitch in protest against the decision of the match officials, the act which brought the game to a halt for some times.
All these breached NPFL24 Rules & Framework which made the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) board to clamped a fine of the sum of Twelve Million Naira (N12,000,000) on Kano Pillars FC for their supporters’ unsportsmanlike behavior.
The breakdown of the fine shows that the club will pay a fine of N10 million for delaying and disrupting the smooth live transmission broadcast of the match.
Kano Pillars will also pay an addition of N1 million fine for continuous throwing of objects into the pitch and another N1 million for misconduct which halted the game for some time.
The team will also pay another fine of N250,000 as a compensation for battering an assistant referee, Sadiq Adejumo which resulted in sustenance of injuries during the objects throwing scene.
Moreover, the league board also asked Kano Pillars to play their next home matches in an empty stadium for the rest of its matches up to the mid-season break.
In another development, Gombe United and Remo Stars have also been charged for similar offences following their failure to provide enough security in their matches against Rivers United and Sunshine Stars respectively and all the aforementioned teams have been given 48 hours to appeal these decisions.
Coming back to Nafiu Abba Diso’s write up which he tagged with a fine headline: “It was a failure to book any wrong doer that led to the consistent wrong doing in our stadium.”
Diso started by highlighting the superlative contribution of Kano Pillars FC supporters club to the successes of the team during their league and other matches, which he described as marvelous.
He cherished the way and manner the fans used to turn out in their numbers and full the stadium to its capacity anytime the team is playing its home matches.
But regretted how some fans developed the habit of castigating and raining abuses on some match officials, sometimes even throwing objects into the field of play which usually used to disrupt the game.
Diso was irked with the way some undesirable elements in the Pillars fans’ fold maltreated an official during their match against visiting Plateau United which led to a temporary stoppage of the game.
Malam Diso was sad because the supporters’ actions attracted heavy penalties on Kano Pillars from the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL).
“At these hard times, where did the fans want the management to go and sourced for this huge money the league board charged?” Nafiu Abba Diso queried.
He then called on the management of the club under the leadership of Alhaji Babangida Little to do all it could to bring this unholy and ugly act to the end.
He is optimistic that one way to reduce if not stop this unfortunate situation is by increasing the numerical strength of security personnel in and outside the stadium anytime the team is playing at home.
Another way to halt or eradicate these ill-feted situations, according to Diso, is through the total stoppage of the sales of intoxicating materials or substances into the stadium.
It is only when such drugs or substances are denied entry into the stadium that peace and tranquility will prevail in the stadium.
That will also have made people of integrity and personality to be encouraged to come and watch matches in the stadium.
“Most people now shun going to watch matches because of the bad habits which are openly displayed and exhibited in the popular side of the stadium,’ he added.
Diso then suggested the repairs or provision of the stadium’s loudspeakers to be used in preaching to the perpetrators of these evil deeds against them. It will educate them on the dangers and consequences of committing any wrong before, during and after matches.
“If all these failed, Nafiu Abba Diso then suggested for the popular side to be left entirely to the security to occupy so that everybody will rest.
“Or in the alternative solicited for scrapping or demolition of the entire popular side so that the embarrassment will stop totally”, he concluded.
Honestly, I shared many of Diso’s assertions because of the disappointments and the financial calamity they are bringing to the team and the state in general.
These people must be made to know that stadiums were erected for people to go and socialize but not to be used as an arena for committing crimes.
We should all know that the stadium is built to benefit people and not the other way round. Stadiums can provide employment to people living nearby or those that can go and do something meaningful and lawful to make money.
To stop further disappointment, I am also of the opinion of bringing more security personnel into the stadium. Not only police, civil defense, army and others like NDLEA etc should also be drafted into the stadium to prevent crimes.
Another thing which the Kano Pillars FC and the stadium management must do is to address overpopulation of the stadium because of its negative consequences. The two must work together to stop the over-populating the stadium.
I was reliably told that fans were allowed into the stadium without control or no cognizance to the stadium capacity which is very dangerous to the safety of the lives of the spectators and of the facility.
They must work to abide by and respect the stadium’s capacity which is a little bit above 16,000 spectators due to its dangerous effect in the cause of any stampede (God Forbid).
Similarly, Kano Pillars management also needs to put heads together with their fan’s club and find a lasting solution to their supporters’ wild behaviors during matches before it is too late.
Now it is to be playing in an empty stadium and a heavy fine. The next line of action if this continues should be more disastrous.
A stitch in time…