adminPaul Munyuki Sports Reporter
WHILE most sporting codes are fighting hard to reduce age-cheating, it seems this scandal is on the increase in rugby where Churchill Boys have been thrown into the spotlight.
Blogger and former Churchill coach Benedict Chanakira claims the Bulldogs are involved in age-cheating.
“During the holiday I attended two tournaments and a coaching workshop. The rugby was awful really,” Chanakira wrote on his blog.
“However, I was enlightened with how the system works. I was deeply disturbed with the referee payments and the age-cheating.
“I (began) to research and in the process met up with six boys from two different schools, four of them from where I coached, and a rival school.”
Prince Edward School are Churchill’s biggest rivals.
“They would either receive birth certification which is either two or three years below their actual age or would play in an age-group below and one of the players went on to show me three of his different birth certificate documentation.”
Age-cheating was the main reason Chanakira says he quit the “Royal Boys” as he was blasted for fielding a team with the correct ages.
“I went to get a team together comprising of Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 players and started the game with 14 players and after 12 minutes we were 14-0 down.
“This, I must admit, was new to me, as the over-age players got up, led by their talisman who shouted “This is our team, lets go play.”
“As I sat with the Director of Sports of Churchill High he saw all this. I asked if he was not going to stop the players and he said this (rugby) was not his department and as they took to the field I walked away from the bench.
“I offered my resignation to him (sports director) and sat in the stands.
“The team manager called me, alerting me of how I will not succeed without fielding over-aged players and he justified his acts saying everyone is doing it,” said Chanakira.
He claimed competition was driving coaches and players to do everything to win and “remain as the best” at the expense of younger, and probably more talented players, within the schools system.
He said the players would defend themselves by saying: “School pride. We must remain the best in the country, the coaches need to keep us the best and produce national players.”
This is the first time an official with ties to the Bulldogs family has made these damning allegations.
Last year St John’s College turned down their league fixture against Churchill citing alleged age-cheating on the part of the Bulldogs.
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