adminMbachi Mutukula-Maregere Harare Bureau
AN age-cheating scandal was unearthed at the 2014 Copa Coca-Cola tournament with several players having their ages fraudulently reduced to fit in the required age-group.
Copa Coca-Cola, which is one of a major football development tournaments in this country, is bankrolled by Delta who want to nurture talent from the grassroots.
The Under-16 boys tournament was won by Chemhanza High of Masvingo, who powered to a second win in a row, walking away with $6,500 in prize money.
They beat Oriel Boys of Harare 2-0 at Gwanzura.
But Chemhanza stand accused of fielding some over-aged players during that tournament.
Reports also suggest that Chemhanza were suspended for the offence, which meant they were not supposed to be part of the cast of teams this year, but this was changed later this year.
Sources said some felt that banning Chemhanza would not be fair on some of the pupils at the school, who did not know that some of their teammates’ ages had being altered, given that this was a developmental tournament.
Others felt that Chemhanza should have been made an example so that other teams would not field over-aged players in the future.
Some of the players who have been caught up in the scandal include Elvis Tumba, who was born on July 30, in 1997, and would have been ineligible for the tournament last year.
However, Tumba’s age was altered so that he would appear as a 15-year-old with his documents at the Registrar-General office also being changed while his name remained the same.
Tumba was selected for the Dream Team which camped in South Africa where he was voted the best player on the continent.
His reward for the performance in South Africa was a trip to watch the World Cup in Brazil.
Sugar Tanyaradzwa was the other player caught offside.
He was born on February 2, 1998.
The other players who were over-aged were twins, Emmanuel and Daniel Chiwerenga, who were born in 1997.
“We’re appealing to the relevant authority Nash to take appropriate measures to prevent age-cheating and avoid bringing the beautiful game of football into the disrepute in future,” said the sources.
“We owe it to the kids who’re of the right age to fight this cancer and those who have been caught on the wrong side should be punished heavily, made an example, so that other schools won’t follow suit.
“What is very clear is that this is a scandal that involves the school authorities and some people at the Registrar-General’s office because this could not be possible without such collusion.
“There were some concerns that highlighting this could damage the sponsors’ brand but the sponsor is not to blame because we’re the ones who do the vetting and it shows that our systems are not fool-proof and we need to work hard to ensure that we get the right players playing in the right age groups.
“If we do that we will avoid the situation that we’re seeing these days when players, who emerge in the Premier League, are finished after just a few years and it’s all because they would have been past their peak a long time ago.”
Oriel, who lost to Chemhanza in the boys’ final, also feel they were cheated of a trophy they deserved, and which they had worked hard for.
Online Reporter