they assume it’s ALL O -VAR

• Mixed reactions trail NPFL ref’s controversial decision

Nigeria Premier Football League referee Nuru Abdullahi is under fire for the absurd method of playback which he used to award a goal to Enyimba in the champion’s 1-0 win over Doma United in one of the match-day 24 games in Aba on Sunday, According Sports Extra reports.

Enyimba scored an 88th-minute goal through striker Chijioke Mbaoma, but referee Abdullahi, after consulting one of his assistants ruled out the goal for offside in the buildup.

That prompted the Enyimba players and officials to protest and Abdullahi opted to review the decision through the outside broadcast facility which was being used to transmit the game live and eventually awarded the goal for Enyimba’s win.

In a viral video which surfaced on Monday, the referee was seen crossing the pitch side barrier back onto the pitch in the arms of overzealous fans who were apparently expecting him to give the decision in their favour.

Bearing in mind that the Video Assistant Referee is not yet in use in the NPFL, the referee’s choice raised eyebrows.

Followers of the league and journalists like Tobi Adepoju described the act as embarrassing.

“Either given or cancelled from his first decision, the ref would have been pardoned for human error because the offside was marginal. The AR flag going up and down. The referee checking OB replay. Everything was just embarrassing,” Adepoju wrote.

“Fine, it’s a goal but nothing brave there. That’s absolutely rubbish. Did you know how many times have we seen goals wrongly disallowed in Europe when goal line tech didn’t exist? Did the ref go to Sky Sports to go watch the reply to award goals? That’s absolutely rubbish,” a fan, Ayodeji also wrote.

Keny David also blamed the incident on Enyimba’s inadequacies, saying, “Orderliness and professionalism need to be embraced by Nigerians at all levels. It is very sickening when a football club – state-owned club can’t provide a medium-sized electronic device to see replays.”

Another fan, Silver Ukpabi also called out the Enyimba hierarchy for the embarrassing scenes that preceded the decision.

“Is this the kind of goal you encourage and celebrate for Enyimba? Shameless Nigerian refs. No wonder they had zero referee representatives at CAF and FIFA competitions.”

Some others however believed the referee made the choice for his safety.

“He did it for his safety. The last time such a thing happened and it didn’t go their way the officiating teams were beaten to a pulp, so until the NPFL starts providing adequate security such a thing will never cease to happen,” said another fan with the name Brain Child.

Mike Somerset also said, “I was live at the stadium yesterday. The linesman caused the whole thing. The ref was awarded initially and later canceled after the linesman told him that it was offside. But from the stand we noticed Doma coach rushing and shouting at the linesman before he raised the
flag.”