Eguavoen: claim he quit Sunshine job over unfair refereeing

Football enthusiasts have blamed Austin Eguaveon’s resignation as the coach of Sunshine Stars FC of Akure on the corruption that has eaten deep into football.

`Mathematical’ Segun Odegbami, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the situation was sad.

“It’s a psychological thing, this has been an issue for a very long time and nothing has been done.

“I don’t know if anything can be done in this regard because it seems nothing has been done to make our referees better.

“It’s like corruption in this country it has eaten deep into the system, in fact that’s what is wrong with our football.

” It is the same set of people that have been there that are still there so you don’t expect much from them, ” he said.

Dosu Joseph, a former Super Eagles number one goalkeeper said that it was quite unfortunate, that for Eguaveon to resign after two matches and spoke volumes of the state of football in the country.

“The truth is at times human error comes into play but when it becomes consistent it shows something is wrong.

“For him to resign after two matches to me shows that he knows what he is doing and since he saw that he could not cope he did the needful.

“It takes guts for him to do that; it’s unfortunate that he resigned Sunshine has lost a good coach, ” Joseph said.

Also sharing same view was Nduka Ugbade, he told NAN that there could be more to it.

“I’m yet to call him, but there is more to it, that’s my assumption, Austin is a coach that knows his worth.

“It’s so unfortunate that things ended like this for Sunshine, they really needed his experience, ” he said.

However, Wahidi Akanni, a board member of the Lagos State Football Association, said Eguaveon’s resignation due to referee’s conduct was not enough reason for his resignation.

“The truth is our referees need reorientation but the truth is, it’s not enough for Eguaveon to resign that’s my take.

“He should present his evidence to the relevant authorities, this is not to justify anything but the truth is officiating in the NPFL needs serious upgrade,” he said.

NAN reports that Eguavoen left his post as the Technical Adviser of Sunshine Stars after the Week 23 match against Plateau United.

Sunshine Stars played five games with the former Nigerian Coach in charge, winning two and losing three.

The club defeated Rangers International of Enugu 2-0, lost 0-1 to Lobi Stars of Makurdi, defeated Enyimba International of Aba 1-0 and also lost 0-1 to 3SC of Ibadan and 1-2 to Plateau United of Jos.

(NAN)