Enyimba International Football Club of Aba goalkeeper, Femi Thomas has called for more security to be put in place to bring out the best from Nigerian referees in the domestic league.
Thomas posited that the referees have been trained but still need to be assured of their safety to function better when officiating matches, especially in the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL.
“I want to advise the organisers of the domestic league to provide adequate security arrangements for the referees during matches”, Thoman told footballive.ng.
Crowd trouble and man-handling of officials are reoccurring decimals in the NPFL every season, a situation which continues to rubbish the image of Nigerian football.
Just last season, an incident occurred in a Nigeria Nationwide League, NNL, replay-match between Kwara United and Ranchers Bees, where Centre Referee Uzigbo Charles was beaten blue and black by angry fans of Bees after what they perceived as bias officiating by the referee.