Martin Etonge BBC Sport, Yaounde

Essomba Eyenga pledged to disrupt matches in Douala

Just when football fans in Cameroon thought things could not get any worse, somehow they do.

Two first division matches were called off on Sunday after the man in charge of the stadium refused to release the goal nets and the corner flags.

Fans had turned up to watch a double header featuring Kadji SA against Sahel FC Maroua and Les Astres Douala against Impots FC Yaounde but unexpectedly, what they saw was a farce.

The chaos at the Douala Reunification Stadium was triggered by the stadium director who locked up the essential items in his office.

Glebert Mandjeck was apparently acting on the orders of the sports minister, Philippe Mbarga Mboa.

Stadiums in Cameroon are owned by the government and run by civil servants appointed by the minister in charge of sport.

Sunday's incident is the latest chapter in a bitter feud between the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) and the sports minister over the management of the game.

Mbarga Mboa accuses Fecafoot of not doing a "good job" while Fecafoot officials counter-argue that the minister likes poking his nose into other people's business.

The minister's critics say he is taking advantage from the crisis within Fecafoot, born after the organisation's national congress on 11 March.

Three members of the Littoral provincial league, Joseph Lima, Abraham Tchato and Mbappe Esoka were fired for "gross insubordination" but have since refused to quit.

Some members of Fecafoot's 30-man executive committee have now backed the call by the expelled trio for the Fecafoot president Mohammed Iya to step down.

Louis Marie Ondoua, Antoine Essomba Eyenga and Fran�ois Ondoua have publicly demonstrated their collaboration with the sports minister and openly criticise Fecafoot.

Last week, Antoine Essomba pledged to use "all available means" to disrupt first division matches in Douala, hence Sunday's shambles.

So while fans wait to see if the matches scheduled for the Douala Reunification Stadium on Wednesday will go ahead, Fecafoot authorities say they will re-schedule the aborted games.