The beasts are back. These animals in human skin at match venues have taken over the domestic game, especially in the elite class, with the NPFL board, perhaps, waiting until referees are slaughtered by disgruntled and illiterate local supporters unhappy that their idols didn’t win certain home games. This win-at-all-cost mentality among overbearing club fans is one of the reasons there is always carnage at some notorious match venues, which are highly under-reported, except when a life is threatened.

The most painful aspect of this lunacy at match venues is that these bastards are known faces in those towns. Yet, no arrests have been made, such that the culprits are prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others. These criminals walk majestically at venues constituting nuisance inside and outside the stadium. Indeed, you start to witness their bestial tendencies right from entrances at the premises, with many of them clad in the club colours of home fans.

These miscreants can be as early as the pre-match meetings, raising the false alarm of ‘fake’ attacks on them in the reverse fixtures of the day. Can you beat that? These vagabonds hardly travel out of their cities, putting a lie on their previous attacks. The disturbing fact of their heinous acts is that they commit their offences barefaced, making it difficult for one to understand how an assistant referee can be beaten to pulp in Warri in Delta State, with blood gushing out of his nostrils. Yet, his assailants were not caught.

The big question to ask is where the host FA chairman and Secretary were when this referee was treated like a jackal. It raises further posers regarding the level of security organised by the host FA chieftains for them? I ask again, where was the match commissioner when the referee became the punching bag of fans armed with sticks, cudgels etc? Did I hear you say where were the security operatives were and what was the security architecture for the game like?

Statutory, there must be at least 50 of them. Most times, you could hardly see any. The few you see may have their uniform covered with civilian shirts, showing that they were not authorised to be at the stadium. Imagine the battered referee running towards such a fellow? No chance. Some of them are ardent supporters of such local fans and are in sync with their barbaric behaviour.

No person’s blood is worth being spilled at match venues before relevant changes are reflected in the domestic league. Weekly matches are marred by violence, with the culprits (hoodlums, urchins, etc) made to look like spirits due to inadequate security. Referees are beaten to a pulp regularly because the league venues don’t have close circuit televisions to track the beasts. When a referee is killed, we will constitute panels to find out how it happened, who did it, why and how? Innocent souls will be arrested while the roughnecks will be walking the streets, free as air, with instructions from their principals not be seen around any stadium. Of course, the noise over the dastardly act won’t last long; it will be buried with the victim whose family will be left to bear the burden of losing their loved one.

Against such odds, should referees and indeed their assistants be allowed to seek justice in the courts rather than the sentimental behind the scenes apologies by the offending teams? Shouldn’t club chairmen and other top officials present at the stadium when the urchins went gaga be prosecuted until the real vandals are brought to book at the courts?

Must a referee be killed before we know that league venues here are death traps? Each week, strange stories of how match referees were maltreated and the culprits left to walk free litter the sports pages of national newspapers.

Sadly, some of these battered referees don’t record their ordeal in their match reports, except such scenes happen in parts of the country where the media presence can and overwhelm the influence of desperate club managers, owners, and, sometimes, sports commissioners.

I won’t be surprised if the referees don’t get justice. The so-called culprit would just deny the allegation since he wasn’t caught on camera. He would easily get a lawyer to bail him and the case would ease off faster than ice cream kept under the scorching sun. Sadly, the referees are left in pain arising from bruises inflicted on them by the irate fans.

It isn’t too much of a burden for the NPFL to demand the fitting of genuine CCTV cameras at match venues by the owners of the stadium. The NPFL management shouldn’t wait until one referee dies before the simple task of wiring stadium complexes with CCTV cameras. Indeed, it should be the main component that any stadium designated to host NPFL games must have, otherwise no deal. Hoodlums who take the laws into their hands to inflict bodily harm on match referees should be fished out and made to face the wrath of the law.

Only when CCTV cameras begin to capture glaring scenes of carnage perpetrated by these bastards would an end to such bestial acts become a reality. The main reason why people don’t take their families along with them to match venues to watch games as we see on television is because of this insecurity in the premises.

If referees arrive for matches with stern looking security people amidst tight settings, no criminal will dare move close to them or the coaches to attack them. Anyone who is dissatisfied with any aspect of how the games are being officiated is at liberty to leave the stadium immediately.

Stadia shouldn’t be made high-risk security venues because of imbeciles. They are recreational centres and some sort of hobbies for all those associated with the game.

In fact, refereeing is a hobby for referees and not a do-or-die activity. Indeed, the laws of the game are such that the referee is the sole judge of time. To eliminate some of the slips which the human eyes can’t capture, FIFA chieftains in their wisdom introduced VAR and referee’s cameras to guide them. It must be stated here that only the organising body of the game can punish erring referees. We have seen instances where badly behaved referees have been stripped of their badges, demoted or barred completely from handling matches for the good of the game.

Are these goons spirits? No. Then arrest and prosecute the idiots.