Reports reaching this paper from the Upper River Region have revealed that at least five persons were injured during the Wuli East football finals last Thursday.
The final played at Mureh Kunda between Sutukoba and Baja Kunda ended in a clash between fans from the two villages.
An eyewitness told this reporter that both sides were engaged in throwing stones, resulting in injury to three persons from Sutukoba, and two from Baja Kunda.
Batuwo Saidy, a member of the tournament organisaing committee, told The Point in a telephone interview that the match, as was the entire tournament, started well with no problems.
“The injured might be more than this, but what I saw was five persons. Also one motorcycle, three bicycles and a donkey cart were destroyed,” he confirmed.
“The motorcycle belongs to the persons Baja Kunda, and the bicycles and donkey cart belong to people from Sutukoba,” he further revealed.
According to him, even though many football tournaments in the provinces do end in clashes, this kind of clash is unprecedented in Wuli East football.
“We have a disciplinary committee that does sanction teams and players if found wanting, and we do hope that the matter would be resolved by that committee,” he said.
The tournament was sponsored by some Norwegian donors with ten thousand dalasis.
Meanwhile, the latest news from Wuli is that police officers witnessed the clash during the finals; consequently, representatives of the two communities were on Saturday summoned to the nearby Sara Ngai police station in the Wuli West district.
“Some youths from Sutukoba have spent the last night at the police station, and elders from the community including the village alkalo visited them at Sare Ngai yesterday,” a youth leader in Sutukoba told The Point.
However, due to poor telephone network at Sare Nagi, at the time of going to the press, this paper could not confirm the outcome of the case.
