Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Coal City Football Club of Enugu has emerged champions of the 2024 Enugu State Football Association (FA) Cup following a boardroom decision by the state FA.
It would be recalled that the final match between Coal city and Enugu Rangers played on March 30th ended in a 2-2 draw at the end of regulation time.
However, Rangers allegedly refused to play penalty shootout and walked out of the pitch of play claiming that the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium pitch had become dark.
Speaking to the media after presentation of the trophy to the Coal city FC on Saturday, the state FA chairman, Tony Ugwu, said the association decided to award the match to the team based on the provision of the rules of the game.
He said: “The NFF rule says that the match must end that day except if there is a force majeure.
“We acted based on the match commissioner’s report and other independent assessors.
“The match commissioner gave us report that the match was concluded but one team just refused to play and by that there is nothing the FA can do than to act on the report and that is exactly what we did today.”
According to him, all the parties were communicated on the report before the decision was taken.
“It was a unanimous decision, it was not one sided decision, at least before you take this kind of decision you must consult with all the parties involved.
“I am sure the management of Rangers is aware of the match commissioner’s report,” Ugwu said.
In his reaction, Afam Agu, a representative of Coal City FC said it was a thing of joy for the team to emerge champions of this year’s Enugu State FA cup.
“I am happy; the entire team is happy and the management is also happy,” he said.
He assured that the team would represent the state well at the National FA championship.
