NIGERIAN referees on Wednesday threatened to boycott league matches unless their safety is guaranteed. “Unless security is guaranteed at match venues, we will have no choice than to withdraw our referees from the league,” referees chief Jero Dogo Yabilsu said. The conference was called following the recent spate of hooliganism at league matches around the country. “We don’t want to mourn at the end of the season,” Yabilsu said. “What is happening at the various stadia is terrible. See what fans did when they invaded the pitch in Ilorin, capital of central Kwara state, where everybody wanted to have a punch at the referee and eventually most of them did,” he said. The chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Dominic Oneya, has promised to deal decisively with cases of hooliganism when the NFA board meets Thursday in Abuja.