The two River State teams meant to compete in the 2013 Federation Cup; Sharks FC and Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt, have both been suspended by the Nigeria Football Federation from the competition.
At a federation meeting on Wednesday the issues around the River State’s conducted state preliminary final, which produced both teams was brought to light and the NFF decided not to allow the state’s representatives to take part in this year’s National finals for two major reasons.
The NFF said it was able to establish that the River State FA Cup matches were not handled by qualified referees while the Rivers FA was also found guilty of taking laws into their hands, having unilaterally decided that the state finals will not hold and only informed the NFF of her decision not to solicit for permission to do forthwith.
According to the statement from the NFF, the River State FA scribe only sent the federation a message saying they will not play their state final, so the NFF should note. Such act, according to the federation was undermining and leads to chaos if not disciplined since other states might want to follow the same part.
The statement from the NFF read in part: “The 2013 preliminary matches of the Federation Cup were officiated by unqualified/ unregistered referees. This therefore means there were no preliminary matches played in the state in accordance to the rules and regulations of the competition.”
The federation thereby decided that both Sharks FC and Dolphins FC, who have been representing River State in the last 15 years, will be exempted from the National draws for the Federation Cup.
