Following last weekend’s crowd violence at the Ilorin Township Stadium, Kwara State in the match against Sunshine Stars of Akure, Ondo State, Kwara United Football Club has been banished to Abuja for its home matches beginning from Week 14.
The team is also to pay a fine of N2 million and lose the three points at stake in the match to Sunshine Stars.
These decisions were taken today by the secretariat of the Nigeria Professional League Board after it reviewed the report of the Referee for the match, Sani Mohammed from Kaduna State, and that of the Match Commissioner.
Supporters of Kwara United invaded the pitch about three minutes to the end of the match to protest what they felt was the referee’s decision to ignore an obvious penalty for the home side.
The fans descended on Mohammed and then also attacked the visiting team, injuring some of them in the process.
From Week 14, Kwara United will be playing its home matches in Abuja.
Its Week 13 match is an away game.
This is not the first time Kwara United will be banished from the Ilorin Township Stadium for crowd violence.
About six seasons ago, the team was banished to the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, Cross River State, after a crowd incident.
The crowd had descended on the then Chairman of the Nigeria Referees Association, the late Colonel Dogonzoro Yabilsu.
Kwara United, which was keading the pack on the league table then, fell from grace to grass as they lost all the 10 matches they played in Calabar.
The team was relegated at the end of that season.
The Organising and Disciplinary Committee of the NPLB will meet soon on the recent Kwara United crowd violence.
It has three choices in the matter: confirm the decisions of the secretariat, reverse the decision or add to the punishment.
The Chairman of the club, Toyin Olokooba, is still insisting that Mohammed infuriated the crowd.
Olokooba said the referee was obviously biased througout the match.
He said the team will appeal the verdict.