Finidi George, the head coach of Enyimba FC, has voiced his strong dissatisfaction with the refereeing during his team’s recent Match Day 29 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) encounter against Lobi Stars. Enyimba FC, known as the People’s Elephant of Aba, suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Lobi Stars at the Lafia Township Stadium on Sunday.
Finidi George highlighted a particular incident in the first half where he believed Enyimba should have been awarded a penalty. He expressed frustration over the inconsistent and, in his view, biased officiating that favored the home team.
“We should be better than this. In terms of officiating, we have to be better than this. When you have a penalty and you don’t give it, what do you expect? Is it a must that the home team must win? Is it a must?”
“Where are we going to? Where are we going to, gentlemen? Every time the same thing happens and we keep talking about making the league better. We have to be better than this now.”
“I don’t know if that was a chance that they got and they got that goal. But if you look at the game overall, we had better possibility to have won this game. That’s the truth about it. If you look, check how many chances they had.”
Despite the controversial refereeing decisions, George remained optimistic and focused on the upcoming home game for Enyimba. He asserted that his team does not resort to deceitful tactics and aims to play and win matches with integrity.
“We are running our race. We are playing at home in our next game and we want to play and win properly, not in a deceitful way. If you check all our games, we don’t cheat anybody,” George added.
The Enyimba coach’s criticism of the refereeing decisions underscores the ongoing concerns about the quality and consistency of officiating in the NPFL. His comments also reflect the broader challenges facing Nigerian football as it strives to improve the standards and credibility of the domestic league.
