Nigeria: Come for the Football, Stay for the Machetes

A few months back on World Cup Blog we reported that referees in Nigeria are sometimes encouraged to take bribes. While this hardly is something we would promote for the Beautiful Game, we are a little more sympathetic towards corrupt Nigerian referees after reading what happened to referee Sani Abiodun this past weekend.

Following a match which he officiated between Niger Tornadoes and Sharks, Abiodum was attacked by some less than happy fans. According to local newspaper reports:

With only a few policemen on duty, the referee was battered until he fainted and was later rushed to a hospital in Minna.

Abiodum was not the only one to end up in the hospital in Nigeria thanks to football. Three fans of Kwara United were attacked with machetes by angry Ranchers Bees (great name) fans after the Bees were swatted by Kwara. The three fans were cut on their hands and stomachs by the machetes. Speaking from experience (not really), that kind of hurts.

Ranchers Bees fans didn’t stop there. They held Kwara United players and official hostage on the pitch until police finally came to restore order.

We know next to nothing about the Nigerian football leagues, but based on the results from this weekend we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the madness in the days and weeks ahead.

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Category: Africa