Age cheating:The Ikeddy solution

By Paul Bassey

I want to believe that after this week, I may lay to rest ( For a while) the issue of age cheating and the development of the game of football, which has dominated my column for the past four weeks.

I remember that I started off with a view that we should not be swapping players between the Super Eagles and the so called Dream Team just because we want to win competitions and nothing more.

I spoke about the cost of such pyrrhic victories which leave us on the same spot, development wise.
I moved into the Ahmed Musa factor and wondered why a coach who had the benefit of over two months together with a set of players, thanks to the postponement of the competition in Libya should rely so heavily on a player that was not part of his plans from the beginning.

I also said that the Maigari led NFF owe us a duty to initiate the sanitisation  of our age group teams by insisting on the right thing.

Thursday morning, I was privileged to share some minutes with Ikeddy Isiguzo, Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vanguard Newspapers.

After some dose of  the Jonathan factor in Nigerian politics and so on, we found ourselves discussing sports which happens to be Ikeddy’s first love.

Did I say we discussed sports? Not true. We discussed football and coincidentally our main area of concentration was age cheating.

We agreed that unless something was done about the falsification of ages by Nigerian players, that unless our coaches  settle down and work…discover budding talents and nurture them to stardom we will continue to wallow in self deceit.

We then remembered that the Flying Eagles were scheduled to face Cameroun in a few hours and we naturally talked about a team that auto criticized itself by dropping two players believed to be over aged.

Ikeddy, short of swearing remarked that by that singular act, the  numerical strength of the team had been depleted vis a vis other teams in the competition and wondered why it took us so long to ‘suspect’ that those two players could be over aged.

I stepped in to defend Coach Obuh. I said the coach said he was in a helpless situation. That parents swear on the age of their players, that the passports they carry are sacrosanct and was not happy that those who have information on the real ages of the suspects do not come out till when perhaps it was too late.
Ikeddy did not buy the argument. He is of the opinion that the coaches and the NFF are not sincere in the fight to eliminate age cheats from our football.

Apart from mentioning names of players who in the past and at  present are not what they claim they are, especially the famous Under 17 squad of John Obuh, he went ahead to explain an easy method of verifying how old a player may be.

Read him.
“I remain resolute in my belief that there is no effort whatsoever on the part of the NFF and coaches to stem the issue of age cheating. What we have is a pure conspiracy to commit crime.
“ My formula is simple. If you present yourself for an U-17 or U-20 team, the first thing you should be asked is whether you attended primary school. Naturally your answer will be yes. That automatically adds six years to your age.

“The next stage of course is secondary school. Again another six years. If you had started primary school at the age of three, then it follows that by the time you leave secondary school, you would have been 15 years old”.

Ikeddy goes further to say that based on the above, every U-17 ( 16 years and under ) player must therefore be in school, given the fact that preliminaries of those competitions are always started at least two years before the main event and you are expected to be U-17 when the competition proper comes round.

He extends the argument to the Under 20 level. After secondary school, some players graduate to clubs. Have we cared to find out the clubs they play or played for? How many years they played in those clubs?
He asks. “How come our coaches do not even source those players from amateur or national league sides? How come we get players in under 17 and under 20 who are already playing for professional league sides, top sides and some of them as much as three or four seasons old in those clubs?

“Let us be serious for once. Let us decide what we want, either to cheat and win trophies and stagnate our football or develop the game to the level where footballers will bloom and flourish and we will be embarrassed with a glut of stars.”

Our discussion took us to the kick off of the Flying Eagles match against Cameroun and we sat there in amazement. It was Aisha Falode who shook us back to reality with the exclamation that the team does not “look coached.”

Ikeddy said there is an age you get to and you become “uncoachable”
When I called Linus Mba ( he is in South Africa ) he said Nigerians there were unanimous that the team did not play well. That, was obvious . He said everything will be done to beat Gambia. That, was a prayer.
I do not want to believe all the excuses credited to our coach, including the absence of Ahmed Musa and the bad pitch.

Was it a coincidence? That same night, Chris Green, chairman of the NFF Technical Committee had to appear on Supersports Soccer Africa to condemn age cheating in African football.
As you are reading this, perhaps the Flying Eagles had beaten Gambia to qualify for the semi finals but I can bet my lunch that with a display such as against Cameroun they are not likely to go far in the competition not to talk of the Junior World cup.

Meanwhile, what of all the resources spent to guarantee the long period of preparation to camp and nurture this team to stardom?

Abegooooo. They are condemned to qualify.
That Adefemi death.

Just when we are starting a crusade for the blooding of young players in the Super Eagles, news came that Olubayo Adefemi is no more. Death, how cruel. I join millions of Nigerians to mourn this star who was cut in his prime. I share the agony of his mourning family especially the devastated fiancée.
…Dudu’s mother goes home

Deaconess Comfort Agheyi Moore mother of our Soccer Afficionado Dudu Orumen will commence her journey to the great beyond on April 30 with a service of songs by 6-8pm at Jalupon Close off Gbajumo Crescent Suru Lere Lagos.

On May 5-6 there will be a Christian wake keep/ funeral service at her residence 36 Atufe Road, off Okpe Road, Sapele.

…Andy’s Mother too
Late Madam Afiong Joseph Akpan, mother of Elder Andy Joseph Akpan of The Apostolic Church Maboju Area will also be laid to rest this week.

On April 27 there will be a night of songs, while April 28 is for the Funeral, interment and thanksgiving service all at Late Elder ( Chief ) Joseph Akpan’s compound Afia Nsit no 1 by Ekom Iman Junction off Abak Road, Akwa Ibom State.
See you next week.