The over age player saga has raised its head once more at the FIFA U-17 World CUP competition, this time right on their doorstep on African soil, Nigeria. Two months down the line after a number of Nigerian U-20 players failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age verification test prior to the FIFA U-20 Youth World Cup in Egypt. Nigeria sent in replacements but failed in their quest to reach the final of the Youth World Championship.
 
Fifteen players from Nigeria’s U-17 team were dropped in the run-up to the tournament after they failed to pass the age-verification test. Fortune Chukwudi passed but his age has since been called into question by ex-international: Adokie Amiesimaka, who says the player turned out for him as an 18-year-old seven years ago. This is what Amiesimaka had to say:
                                
“I recall clearly that during 2002/2003 season when I was chairman of Sharks Football Club in Port Harcourt, we played a friendly match against the Flying Eagles, who were camping in Port Harcourt at the time in preparation for a qualifier, and Fortune was one of my prominent defenders then. He told me he was eighteen then. In fairness to him, he looks as young now as he did then.”

Amiesimaka had claimed in his weekly column that Nigeria’s U-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi is over aged. The Nigerian Football Association (NFA) did not take it lightly. One of their executive committee members Taiwo Ogunjobi accused the former Eagles winger of being unpatriotic and seeking to have those in the football house removed to create vacancy for himself and people of like mind.

“He is just looking for a way to discredit Nigerian football,” said Ogunjobi.“People like him, we know their plans. They are not after the interest of the country. They just want to discredit those who are there now so they can come in and take over. They did the MRI test both in Nigeria and in Doha when they went for the training camp and they all passed. We did not just rely on the test we did in Nigeria. In fact, just to be sure, we took three of the players who failed originally so that they could do the test again and they still failed. I can assure you that if we do the test again, all our players will pass. How can a sane person be writing something like that at this time? They are just surprised that the team is doing well and they are looking for a way to discredit Nigerian football.”

Amiesimaka, the Port Harcourt based lawyer, said that the NFA people have consistently failed in their responsibility to ensure that we comply with the eligibility rules and the development of the youth system. “Real U-17s should be in school or just passing out, and not men who have been playing in the League for years. Why can’t they organise competitions to get these talented players to represent the country?” said Amiesimaka. He denounced the statement by Ogunjobi as utterly childish and not surprising from an unenlightened NFA.

A large number of African players are in possession of two passports and two birth dates. The players call it a football age and a social age. It is very convenient but unfair to the talented eligible players that are left out of the teams. It is understood that the coaches need to achieve some success; perhaps that is why they play these men in youth competitions. The player’s market value increases with national colors to their credit and the coaches’ image is enhanced by this unjust act. The coaches are not aware of the psychological damage they cause these men; they look to satisfy their own needs and those of the country to achieve success.

If these men fail against younger opponents, which is often the case, their confidence and self esteem takes a permanent knock. They feel guilty and lose interest in the game they claimed to love, cherish and play it in the spirit of fair play. What an injustice to the FIFA slogan: 'For the Good of the Game.'

The coaches in Africa know very well that some of the officials in the Department of Internal Affairs can be expected to turn a blind eye in order to contribute towards the success of their respective countries by issuing falsified documents. I must admit that a small number of coaches are guilty of this malpractice as well. Some one should do something about this injustice.