The supporters of the Nigerian team at the ongoing FIFA world cup in Russia have been denied a request by a group of fans to bring live chicken in to the football stadium.
According to a A local news reports from Russia, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Kaliningrad region where the team is based, Andrei Ermak denied the Super Eagles fans what he called an unusual request from certain group of the fans he told reporters
“Our information center MCH-2018 receives a lot of various questions: fans from Nigeria asked if it’s possible to go to the stadium with a chicken, it’s their symbol, the citizens are sick with them at all matches, we told them that to pass a live chicken, in any case, it is impossible “.
He however soften on his stance that if the fans really want to do that for their team then a solution can be worked out
At the same time, he noted that if the Nigerians are rooting for their team in other places, “we will, of course, advise them where the chicken can be bought.”
We are ready to satisfy the most eccentric inquiries,” the regional minister added.
The supporters club of the Super Eagles have been known to go into stadiums with a live chicken, which is one of the ways they cheer on the team to victory, the chicken are painted in the national colours to cheer the team.
Such is OK in Nigeria but could be classified as cruelty to animal in the western world and those fans could actually be prosecuted for such action, they could take painted chicken to football games in Nigeria but its a whole new ball game when the eyes of the world is upon them, international animal right group will have something to say about the behaviour of those fans.
Obviously the chicken will go through unprecedented stress and trauma within such a large crowed and the handling of the animal in such a super charged environment will be cruel.
At the world cup of 2010 in South Africa, Nigerian fans were refused entry into the stadium when they turned up with pimped up chicken in national colours.
We wait to see how the Russians deal with this unusual request.
[…] Although the gesture arose from roots of passion, the practice has received much flack from animal rights activists and event organizers. The chickens controversially have their feather dyed to match the Nigerian flag and endure egregious conditions throughout the matches, which are often very loud – especially when vuvuzelas are involved. Frequently, the chicken’s wings will be forcibly spread open as football supporters parade the animals throughout the relevant events. “Obviously the chicken will go through unprecedented stress and trauma within such a large crowd and the handling of the animal in such a super charged environment will be cruel,” wrote news outlet Dis Is Africa. […]