Duke Udi spit fire: Nigerian referees are problem, threatens to quit

By Taofeek Babalola

Sunshine Stars technical adviser, Duke Udi has blamed center referee Akinsanya Akintunde from Oyo State for his side’s 2-1 defeat to Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries FC during matchday 26 encounter at the Agege Stadium and threatened to resign if the situation remains unchanged, Sportinglens.blogspot.com reports.

Tchato Giscard gave the host a 27th minute lead. The Benin Republic sensational midfielder initiated a move from the middle of the park before connecting Okorom Stanley, the latter dribbled past his maker, laid the ball back to Giscard and the midfielder blasted the ball in from an impossible angle.

Stephen Odey double the lead in the 76th minute from the spot. Sikiru Olatunbosun raced on to a pass from Onuwa Chukwuka,   the winger pulled the trigger but his shot was handled by Anthony Omaka and the centre referee pointed to the spot. Odey stepped forward and sent Sunshine goalkeeper, Henry Ayodele, the wrong way.

With less than four minutes to wrap up the game the visitors were awarded a penalty after MFM FC defender handled the ball inside his box and Otegbeye Ajibola reduced the deficit for his team with a well converted spot kick.

In a post match interview, Udi said the center referee was biased against his team.

“With all due respect, these referees are problem. If the referees are behaving like this a young coach like me should resign. If Eguavoen can resign because of bad officiating I should resign.  It should be 50/50 and let our football grow.  I don’t care if they are beating me at home, let the best team win that is what we are fighting for,” the former Osun United manager said.

He added: “It is not fear when you are favouring a team against another team. When we were playing football, football was being played with good talents and what you have got. They can come to your home and beat you. Look at Europe for example, a team can go to (Camp Nou) and beat Barcelona but it can’t happen here. Look at what happened here today (Sunday), if this is the way officiating is being handled in the league people like me will resign. If you can work from Monday till Friday and someone will just come from nowhere and thwart your efforts. It is really unfortunate. It was a prepared thing."

It would be recalled that former Sunshine Stars technical advser, Austin Eguavoean resigned after citing bad officiating against his team.