Suspension of Adebajo Babes

Suspension of Adebajo Babes

By Clem Oluwole 

The Lagos Amateur Football Association (LAFA) has begun the year 1978 on a no-nonsense note. Last month, the association descended heavily on the Lagos darling club – Stationery Stores, otherwise known as Adebajo Babes, slamming a one-month suspension order on it with immediate effect.

According to LAFA, the club was found guilty of losing the required control over its supporters. The suspension of Stores climaxed the lifetime ban on Mudashiru Atanda, popularly known as Yomi Peters. Atanda has also been banned from entry into football premises under the control of the Lagos Amateur Football Association.

Also suspended is Peter Fregene, second in command to Yomi. Peter Fregene will not play in three consecutive matches when the Stores are free to breathe again. He was said to have attacked a match official from Ibadan in the dressing room after Stores had lost 0 – 1 to National Bank FC of Lagos in the Oba Cup final. That was four days after his captain had been banned for life.

In addition to the suspension, LAFA had ordered the Stores to satisfy the following conditions:

To publicly denounce the rampant acts of hooliganism by supporters at the matches involving the club,

To write letters of apology to both the LAFA and the Lagos Referees Association (LRA)

And to pay for the damage done at the Lagos State Temporary Stadium, Surulere, as a result of the rampage of Stores’ supporters after the Stores-Navy Division One League match on January 17, this year.

The action of LAFA should be commended by progressive and peace-loving soccer fans in that it will help instill a sense of discipline into players and supporters alike. Methinks it will be easier and more effective stamping out soccer hooliganism by penalizing clubs whose supporters riot than mobilizing a battalion of soldiers to check hundreds of warring supporters at a match.

While one should condemn soccer hooliganism in any form or shape, referees too in some cases are responsible for the breakdown of law and order on the field. Football fans are becoming increasingly enlightened every day. The way some of our referees handle matches leaves much to be desired.

It seems some of them are not abreast of the development of the game. In other words, the referee councils do not organize regular courses for their members with a view to bringing them up-to-date. Besides, some referees are usually the architects of their own misfortune. They sometimes come to the field with their minds made up as to which team should carry the day. Take for instance an Ilorin referee who was saved from being mobbed by policemen armed with dogs. The referee, Mr. A. A. Salawu, was said to have allowed a goal palmed home by an attacker of the Satellite FC which he favoured to win in a match against a team from Lokoja.

According to the report, the supporters of the Satellite and those from Lokoja teamed up to deal with Mr. Salawu but for the quick intervention of security men. The Satellite boys were not happy with the goal. What an irony!

Referees are human beings, agreed. But those who cannot resist the temptation to favour their darling teams should have themselves to blame.

Soccer, no doubt, has become the yardstick with which the success of a sporting state or nation is measured. For instance, at the last Nigeria-Ghana Sports Festival in Accra in 1975, the Ghanaians were unmindful and lackadaisical as Nigerian teams hauled gold medals in almost all other events. But when the Green Eagles took the lead in the race for the senior soccer gold, having won the academical gold, the hosts saw it as a slap on the face. The Ghanaian spectators aided by mounted policemen at the stadium charged at the Eagles, literally hunting them like a game.

Referees contribute in a large measure to the falling or rising standard of sports generally. A partial referee who favours a particular team is doing a great disservice to the game because his action will only help to kill other aspiring clubs and the standard of the game is bound to decline.

It is, therefore, desirable for referees to brace up regarding the rules of the game and resist the temptation to be partial whenever they handle matches.

Back to LAFA’s ban on Stores. The association has set an example which could change the attitude of undisciplined clubs and supporters not only in Lagos but also all over the country. But care must be taken to ensure that no group or groups of people take undue advantage of the association’s measure. In other words, the association should properly investigate any act of hooliganism to ensure that dummy fans do not masquerade as supporters of a team they hate and then riot when that club is engaged in a match with a view to getting that club suspended.

In the case of Stationery Stores, it is easy to identify those who support the club because most members of the LAFA know them. The precedence set by the association can be dangerous if ways and means are not designed to identify genuine supporters of clubs who riot at matches.

To sum it up, the suspension of clubs with riotous supporters should be encouraged throughout the country as a new measure to check the wave of soccer hooliganism provided it is established that those supporters who riot have the covert blessing of the club or clubs they support.

Adequate security should also be provided to guarantee the safety of match officials. Some referees are forced to favour teams that command the larger number of supporters during matches for lack of security. But if security is fully guaranteed, any referee who precipitates riot as a result of partiality should be severely dealt with by suspension or life ban, depending on the gravity of his action. Referees should reserve the right not to handle matches if security is poor or inadequate.

The various football associations all over the country should not stop at organizing or administering the sport. There is need to embark on mass education of soccer fans on the rules of the game. Some riots at matches are caused by ignorance of the rules as interpreted by match officials.

All told, no effort should be spared to stamp out hooliganism from our sports.





Happy wedding, Segun Odegbami



Today, Africa’s Third Best Footballer of the Year 1977, Segun Odegbami, will resign from the Bachelors’ Club.

Segun, 26, is getting married in Ibadan this afternoon to begin a new life. The type of life a man lives depends on the woman he marries. And as the popular saying goes: Behind any successful or unsuccessful man, there is a woman. Segun has been a successful footballer. Here is hoping that he will become more successful during his married life.

When I met Sege, as he is fondly called by fans, last year, during his brief visit to Jos, the lanky, unassuming goal-poacher confided in me that he might hang his boots after getting married. After our meeting, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. Segun has pledged to continue to play for the nation and his club for as long as he is fit.

Wishing him a happy and successful married life.



(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on February 4, 1978).