Two impressive mega victories, 95-0 and 91-1, in a Sierra Leone football league are being investigated by the sports authorities of the West African country, which in its history has never seen such elastic scores.
In the final round of the East Regional Super 10 League championship, two matches, Gulf FC x Koquima Lebanon and Lumbebu United x Kahunla Rangers, would decide which team would continue in contention to try to move up the division.
Gulf and Kahunla were tied on points and, if both won their matches, the definition would come from goal difference.
The games took place at the same time and, between the two, Gulf won 7-1 and Kahunla, who played as a visitor, 2-0.
In the second half of the two matches, what was seen was a festival of goals from the teams fighting for access.
Gulf scored 84 goals in the 45th minute of the second half, winning 91-1, and Kahunla scored even more in the same amount of time: 93 goals, or more than two per minute, to win 95-0.
A scandalous situation, in duplicate, which left the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) no alternative but to initiate an investigation of the facts.
It is likely that, in the space between the first and second half, club officials interested in winning to reap greater sporting laurels have offered financial gratification so that the opponents succumb in a shameful way.
This combination, of course, is illegal in football – and in any sport – even if it didn’t involve money.
With the very strong suspicion of manipulation of results, the SLFA ordered the annulment of the scores.
In a statement, the entity informed that it will question in its diligence the refereeing teams involved in the two games and also the players and managers of the four associations.
“All culprits will be dealt with in accordance with SLFA laws and handed over to the country’s anti-corruption commission,” the association’s president, Thomas Daddy Brima, told BBC Sport Africa. “We cannot let an embarrassing situation like this go unpunished.”
The BBC report said it had made contact with three of the clubs involved, not having located Gulf representatives.
Kahunla, in the figure of its executive director, Eric Kaitell, condemned the unsportsmanlike behavior of the team itself and the others involved.
Lumbebu’s general manager, Mohamed Jan Saeid Jalloh, denied that there had been any manipulative deal with the opponent and complained that his team was harmed by having three players sent off.
He acknowledged that the team “conceded many goals in the second half” and that, “frustrated, nervous and unfocused”, he lost count of how many balls swelled the nets.
Already the president of Koquima, Mohamed Lanfia, presented a bizarre explanation.
According to him, the game in question was not official, but a festive match, a meeting between “players from the community”, including some of his team, held “to entertain fans who bought tickets to see the game against Gulf”.
But with a crushing 91-1 defeat, Koquima fans certainly didn’t call what they saw entertainment, but annoyance.
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