By Daily Sports on April 20, 2017

The Federations Cup is currently going on across the country, and here in Benin City, capital of Edo of Edo State, the first round of matches being held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium are coming to an end this weekend.

Already there have been some interesting talking points as the grassroots clubs who are involved in this round went head to head with each other. Edo State League champions Benin Warriors were knocked out in the first round by experienced campaigners Chinamoon FC 1-0 in a very thrilling encounter played on Tuesday evening.

Controversy however engulfed day three of the competition when two big grassroots clubs, Yak Sports and newcomers Dynamo Academicals, locked horns. It was a frenetic and tension-soaked affair on Wednesday morning as both sides fought to justify the heavy investments made to participate in the Federations Cup (also known as the FA Cup). The female centre referee had a tough time managing the game as she made different questionable calls that riled fans and both set of players.

The big controversy of the game came when a goal was scored late in the first half by Dynamo. It came via a cross but the attacker who met it seemed to have aided the ball home with his hand. The ref pointed to the centre but the assistant ref on the near side didn’t run to the center. The Yak goalkeeper and outfield players protested vehemently, some rushed to the assistant ref while others circled the centre referee. They swore it was injustice to give the goal.

The ref, who should have gone to consult with her assistant in such circumstance, stood and looked confused. It was embarrassing. And then, from the VIP Box of the stadium, descended the Match Commissioner into the sideline of the pitch. After a few seconds of communication with the ref, the goal was cancelled and a few kick was awarded to Yak FC instead.

This incensed players, coaches and fans of Dynamo, who protested against the Match Commissioner for directly influencing the ref’s decision, claiming that it wasn’t standard practice in football games. Police had to restrain some angry supporters from physically assaulting the Match Commissioner.

The second half of the game saw some more poor decisions by the centre ref. A clear foul by a Dynamo player inside his 18-yard box which should have resulted in a Yak penalty was instead surprisingly converted into a free kick outside the box by the ref.

Then, some few minutes later, a Yak player was red carded for what the ref judged as an elbow on the Dynamo goalkeeper when he raced out and tried to prevent a corner kick.

Yak played for about 30 minutes in the second half but looked like the most likely team to score as they kept pressing. However, the game went into penalty kicks after both sides failed to score during regulation time.

Yak, coached by former Golden Eaglets ’keeper Emmanuel Okhonebo, held their nerves better and won the shootout 4-3.

The bitterness about the Match Commissioner’s decision was taken out on the centre ref hours after the match. One of the assistant coaches of Dynamo, who had stayed behind in one of the drinking bars inside the stadium premises, spotted the female centre referee walking by and got up and gave her a loud slap. He was said to have been restrained by people around from further assaulting the referee.

It is not clear as at the time of writing whether the Edo FA had been made aware of the incident and what action it could take over the alleged assault.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 20, 2017

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