Abuja – Abuja football fans have condemned the booing of the Super Eagles by the Lagos crowd during their Wednesday’s friendly encounter with the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone.

The fans who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday said that jeering at the Eagles was inimical to football development.

They said such an attitude could demoralise the players and their handlers.

Mr Patrick Erimona, coach of the Immigration Football Club and Mrs Victoria Nlemigbo, a football administrator in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), both agreed that the attitude of the fans was embarrassing, to say the least.

Erimona said: “I think that was what made the Super Eagles to leave Lagos for Abuja because of that kind of attitude.

“Booing players, stoning them with water sachets after a match, sometimes they will want to beat them and so on, I don’t think that is good for our football.

“It is not encouraging, what we need is to encourage the coaches and players to do better and not booing them.”

Erimona added that the game against the Sierra Leoneans, the first under Coach Samson Siasia, was a good beginning for the new Super Eagles.

In the same vein, Nlemigbo told NAN: “During the first half, it was all Eagles they were supporting.

“Then during the second half when the game swung in favour of the visiting team you were hearing the “ehh”, “ehh” against us and I don’t think that is healthy for our own soccer development.

“They might say they were enjoying themselves, but they also helped in demoralising the boys.”

Mr Michael Atolabi, an Abuja All Stars Football Club player, said the match was a good one for the Eagles, especially when a home-based player scored the second goal for Nigeria.

He urged the handlers of Nigeria’s national teams to give more home-based footballers the opportunity to play for the team.

Mr Chukwu Alex, also a footballer in the FCT, said the Super Eagles did their best considering the fact that they were playing together as a team for the first time.

He expressed the hope that the team would get better when they played more matches together.

NAN reports that some Lagos fans booed the Super Eagles after the Sierra Leoneans came back strongly a few minutes into the second half, which resulted in their only goal in the closing minutes of the match.

The Super Eagles still won the match 2-1 to extend their dominance over the Leone Stars who are ranked 121 as against Nigeria’s 40 on the FIFA table. (NAN)