On Sunday, Rangers International and Enyimba FC’s much awaited Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) match ended in a farce. A contentious penalty caused the week 35 game—which many had predicted would be the game that decided the championship—to be postponed into extra time.
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Going into the feisty Oriental Derby, Rangers lead the league standings with 60 points and Enyimba trailing them by two points.
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Fans had stormed the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium en masse for the fiercely contested encounter which lived up to its hype until the unpalatable scenes at the end.
Rangers was awarded a penalty seven minutes into added time after its attacker was fouled while attempting to get on the end of a loose ball in the box. Enyimba players protested and confronted the referee after an exciting 90 minutes of play that had fans on the edge of their seats and the game likely ending in a draw.
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Players from Enyimba were seen shoving and heckling the referee in a social media video that went viral.
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Trouble at Enugu as referee awards a late penalty to Rangers, prompting Enyimba players to stage a walkout and Enyimba fans to invade the pitch and disrupt the match. pic.twitter.com/4O6Y6NmnlZ
The Fans’ invasion of the pitch, however, gave the event a new dimension and forced Enyimba players to leave the field. The fans who invaded the pitch are still unknown, but attempts to resume play were unsuccessful, and the game was called off. As of the time of this publication, the NPFL had not responded to inquiries about the occurrence. Enyimba will be involved in contentious situations like this one again. The most successful club in the nation also had their Week 24 encounter against Doma United postponed due to a contentious goal that gave the Aba-based team the advantage. Enyimba’s stadium was shuttered for three of their home games, and they were fined N7 million.