As controversy continues raging over eyebrows raised by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) about age irregularities among Nigeria’s contingents in recent months, a Lagos-based youth football coach has alleged that it’s an issue which affects even civil servants in the country.
Sports247 reports that this verdict came from Coach Angel Ebiye Jombo, who believes that tackling ‘age cheating’ must not be restricted to football and athletics, but called for a clean sweep of the entire Nigerian mentality regarding dates of birth.
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Coach Jombo took this bold stand while speaking during ‘Hot Seat’ segment of Inside Naija Sports, a live streaming programme on YouTube from the studio of Sports247 Naija TV, starting at 11:45am every Friday.
The member of Lagos State Coaches Association declared, “It’s not only in football and athletics that this issues of age falsification occurs, but in Nigeria as a whole – even in the civil service. It’s a rampant thing that’s more or less like a cancer in this country.
“It’s deep in us as a set of people; and one major reason why it keeps coming up is because we always start things late. When you don’t get to do things on time, you then try to meet up by cutting back the years with a lower age.
“If we get to start things on time, as is done in Europe, we will not need to cut the ages of our athletes. For instance, footballers in Europe learn how to play from the age of four.
“By the time they do that for ten years, up to the age of 13 or 14, they would understand the basics of football, and they will easily become good players.
“On the other hand, here in Nigeria, a lot of players don’t start learning football until they are like 13 or 14. Many in their young ages are not even allowed by their parents or guardians to play football.”
He also took a specific look at track and field, with a view that cutting the age of an athlete could be due to win at all cost, pressure from fans, aspirations of parents and the fear of meeting over-aged opponents during a youth competition.
Jombo continued, “For athletics, age falsification occurs through various reasons. One is maybe there’s an under-18 competition coming up, and the coach realises that his best athlete is 22 years old but still looks young.
“They will say he’s still within the age limit and then cut his age officially so that he can fit in. They will register him with a lower age so that he can participate and they have a better chance of winning, because their opponents may do the same.
“Such things happen a lot in Nigeria because we believe in winning at all cost. We want to win all the time, rather than look at youth development … and that’s a big problem.
“We don’t want to learn from losing today so that we can win tomorrow and the day after. Even the fans and parents want you to put your best players so that you can win … even if they are above the age limit.
“There is also pressure on coaches at the national level; where a coach is sacked if he does not win. Because of that, every coach wants to win, and the issue of cutting ages keeps coming up in Nigeria’s sports sector.
“At the same time, many Nigerian children don’t grow fast nowadays and the under-17 coach will be scared of going to a major tournament with boys of the real age, who he believes would not be good enough to give him the victory that Nigerians want.”
The smooth-talking coach, who founded United Squad Football Academy 20 years ago at Thomas Ajegunle in Kosofe area Lagos State, concluded with a charge to Nigeria’s sports officials to revive school sports activities, so that talents can be spotted at early ages before they step into the larger society.
“As it is, this is not just an issue about football and athletics. It’s a social problem in Nigeria as a whole. Many of us like to cut our age in order to appear younger and acceptable in society.
“However, in terms of football, specifically, many young talents in schools are not tested and exposed early enough. They are not even given chances to prove themselves.
“So, we have to bring back Principals’ Cup to be staged every year. They should also enforce league clubs to have young players in their main teams.
“There should be a law that each club must have at least three players that are aged under-18. That would force them to look for young players,” Jombo submitted affirmatively.
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