Exclusive: Stuart Attwell slammed over Nigeria vs Jamaica ‘mass confrontation’
Stuart Attwell has been criticised by Keith Hackett over his handling of a clash between Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and Jamaica striker Rumarn Burrell in the United Cup final.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the referee should have booked both players for causing a scuffle in the penalty area.
With the two sides meeting in the final of the tournament at Brentford on Saturday (31 May), it was Nigeria who claimed victory.
Following a 2-2 draw in normal time, the game went to a penalty shootout, where the Super Eagles claimed a 5-4 victory to secure the trophy.
Nigeria and Jamaica stars clash during friendly tournament
With 57 minutes on the clock in normal time, Nwabali and Burrell found themselves at the centre of an incident inside the Nigeria penalty area.
At that point in the match, the West African side led 2-1, with Jamaica earning a corner as they went in search of an equaliser.
As they waited for the set-piece to be taken, Nwabali and Burrell began to shove each other inside the six-yard box, which then escalated to involve more players from either team.
After allowing the incident to settle down, Attwell then spoke to the two players who had instigated the incident, but only booked the Nigeria goalkeeper.
Now, Hackett has suggested that the referee dropped the ball by not also cautioning Burton Albion striker Burrell for his part in the incident.
Stuart Attwell scrutinised over Unity Cup final incident
After being asked by Football Insider what he made of the way Attwell handled the incident, Hackett said:
“When you have a mass confrontation of this nature, a group coming together, the advice referees are given in that situation is a minimum two yellow cards, so you pick one from either side.
“In that situation he has the responsibility to calm down, he didn’t pile in. I don’t know whether his assistant referees came in. Normally they would come in but I’m not so sure that happened.
“I think that he’s missed out. The question I pose is: Has he lost the [Jamaica] player, that was actually involved?
“He’s cautioned the [Nigeria] goalkeeper, has he missed the opponent? So there’s the story, he’s missed out. He should have cautioned two players not just the one.”