The NPFL matchday 8 game at the  Akure sports complex stadium between Sunshine and Pillars ended in a goalless draw at full time. However, reports and photos show the referees in cuts and bruises after the game.

According to reports, the Akure supporters were frustrated with the draw at home, and were not impressed with the performance of the officials and made their intentions known after the encounter.

At first, there were reports of crowd trouble, and allegations that the referees were beaten. However reports from the Sunshine camp have dismissed the reports of such incident. They claim that there were law enforcement agents at the venue to forestall such occurence.

Chris Okunnuwa who is Sunshine Stars media officer, said;

“Honestly the referees were not attacked or assaulted physically, there was no way that would have happened due to the heavy security presence on ground at the stadium.

“I can confirm a water object was thrown from the crowd towards the officials on their way to the dressing room after the game and that could have caught the injured official. I know the club won’t shy away from taken responsibility for this."

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The referees for the encounter were Damian Akure as the center referee, Emmanuel Apine as the first assistant referee, Lewis Gwantana as the second assistant referee, and Kenneth Onyiro as the fourth official.

There has been no official statement from the League management Company (LMC), as we await a full investigation and possible disciplinary actions.