THE Nigeria Premier Football League has come down heavily on Katsina and Gombe United for different rule breaches.
In Katsina United’s case one of the club’s players wore a shirt with a poorly rendered number at the back during an official match.
“Few days after the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) issued a practice directive to clubs on dress codes for the technical crew and players, Katsina United was found to have flouted the code during their Matchday 11 fixture in Lagos against Sporting Lagos,” the league organising body said in a statement today.
“A Katsina United player wore a jersey that was inappropriately numbered and the NPFL has not only sanctioned the club but is also reporting the match officials to the NFF for dereliction of duty in allowing the player come into the game on Sunday.”
Commenting on the breaches and the sanctions, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL, noted that the regulatory role of the body is to identify and investigate acts that may undermine the integrity of the NPFL and impose appropriate sanctions based on the provisions of the Framework and Rules.
“Our rules have sufficiently made provisions to keep away conducts that are inimical to the overall best interest of the clubs, their players and fans,” Owumi said.
“While we cannot stop any club or individual from certain behaviours, we definitely would not condone such misconduct and would always apply sanctions to serve as deterrence.”
The former Enugu Rangers striker and General Manager was dismayed by Katsina United’s action, which he noted has occurred in just over a week after the NPFL issued a practice directive on dress codes for managers and players and which was shared with match commissioners and referees.
“Katsina United was found in breach of Rule B9.7 for inappropriate display of the surname of Player, Ibrahim Yahay with jersey No. 27,” the NPFL explained.
“The club, in a second charge was found to have breached Rule C9 in failing to ensure the proper conduct of its officials which resulted in the Kit Manager of the club attempting to harass the Assistant Referee 1.
“For the cited breaches, Katsina United has been ordered to pay ₦1million for the inappropriate display of the player’s name and number while the Kits Manager, Masudu Lawal, received a one-year ban from all NPFL activities for improper conduct.”
On Gombe United’s part, they were issued with a much heavier fine for crowd trouble.
“In the aftermath of fans’ unruly conduct in another Matchday 11 fixture, Gombe United were fined a total of ₦7million and a one match stadium ban to fans for breaches ranging from disruption of match by fans throwing objects on to the field of play, to disruption of live broadcast of the match and failure to provide adequate and effective security,” the NPFL noted.
There were also heavy sanctions for Niger Tornadoes following their match against Akwa United.
“In a case arising from Matchday 10 between Niger Tornadoes and Akwa United, the former was charged with breach of Rule B8.21, C9 and C1.1 for which it was fined a total of ₦3.250million including compensatory payment to the Centre Referee,” the NPFL stated.
“The sanctions include a fine of ₦1million for failure to provide adequate and effective security for Match Officials.
“Another fine of ₦1million for failure to ensure the proper conduct of its officials (Stewards/Security Personnel). There was a third fine of ₦1million for misconduct and a ₦250,000 compensatory payment to Referee (Ahmad Rabiu from Kano State Referees Council) for losses resulting from the harassment.
“The Ahmadu Bello Stadium home ground of Niger Tornadoes has been ordered closed to fans for the next three home fixtures of the club.”
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