20th National Sports Festival: Female football final ends in brawl as Edo beats Lagos

The final match of the female football event at the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival in Edo ended in a brawl on Monday over allegations of bias against the referee.

Edo team piped Lagos girls by a lone goal to clinch the gold medal in the soccer event.

Crisis however brewed immediately the referee signaled an end to the match, watched by Philip Shaibu, Edo Deputy Governor and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the game.

The Lagos team accused the central referee of bias for adding one minute extra time, despite the time wastage during the match.

Some of the supporters attempted to attack the referee, leading to the confrontation between security agents and supporters of the Lagos team on the University of Benin pitch, venue of the encounter.

The tension between the supporters of the two teams was later doused through the intervention of some security agents and other stakeholders.