Nigerian teams suspended after “scandalous” 79-0 and 67-0 wins Joe Prince-Wright Jul 9, 2013, 3:54 PM EDT This has to be one of the most ridiculous stories I’ve ever heard. In Nigeria, four teams have today been suspended after two playoff matches ended up as 79-0 and 67-0 wins. I’ll do the math for you on that one, that is 146 goals in just two games…. talk about getting your money’s worth. But it seems as though it wasn’t just a goal fest. Something was up, you guessed it, with those utterly ridiculous scorelines. First Plateau United Feeders beat Akurba FC 79-0, then Police Machine FC battered Bubayaro FC 67-0. Chairman of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) Organising Committee, Mike Umeh, “It is unacceptable – a scandal of huge proportions,” said Umeh, “The teams are suspended indefinitely, pending further sanctions. We will investigate this matter thoroughly and get to the bottom of it.” So why did this happen? Well, promotion to the Nationwide League Division was at stake folks and when that comes up, it seems people go crazy. Police Machine and Plateau United Feeders were level on points going into their last game of the season. Only goal differential separated them. Then the craziness occurred, as after half time the Feeders scored 72 times and Police Machine scored 61 times. How that’s possible is beyond me. Is there even enough time to keep going back to the center circle and kicking off for that? After those 146 goals were smashed home, Plateau moved just above Police Machine on goal difference and were promoted. But didn’t they think something would be up? Surely they to think that someone, somewhere would raise a red flag about the ridiculous nature of the scores? Obviously not. The NFF have promised heavy bans, fines and sanctions on the players, coaches and individuals involved. Quite right. There is no place in the beautiful game for obvious acts of match-fixing. I just would have loved to have seen both games going on and witness how the information was transmitted between the two games.Was their one man with a cell phone at each match shouting out “Hey, they are winning 54-0 now, score another 10!” Or were both games being played on pitches next to each other? How bad were the other players, did they just stand there? Or was the team made out of guys who had never kicked a ball before? If that wasn’t the case, how much were they paid and what was the huge incentive, no offense to Nigerian soccer, to go to such great lengths to get promoted to the ‘Nationwide League Division?’ Whatever happened, someone could make a movie about this. There is sure to be some incredible wide-ranging and shady back story that is befitting of a Hollywood drama. My mind is boggling just trying to imagine how so many goals were scored in 90 minutes. Think about it. How did they do that?
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 10:33:26 +0000
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