adminRay Bande recently in Bulawayo
DURING the just-ended 2015 Coca Coca-Cola Under-16 boys and Under-17 girls vetting process in Bulawayo, a parent to one of the youngsters who had been vetted out approached the authorities and queried who could have better knowledge of his son’s age, himself or the teachers conducting the vetting exercise.
Interestingly, before he could get an answer, he produced a picture of one of his nephews and asked those conducting the vetting exercise to say the age of the person in the picture.
To his utmost shock, he was told that the child is two years, when in actual fact his nephew is only eight-months-old.
This prompted the immediate reversal of all age disqualifications and those conducting the vetting exercise instantaneously agreed that no student could be vetted out irrespective of their frame!
The 2015 edition of the Copa Coca-Cola has come and gone.
As always, the lasting impression of this prestigious schools soccer tournament manifests in its age old aptitude to provide platform for talent identification and nurturing.
No doubt, many of the big names in domestic football circles came through this and other junior football and schools soccer tournaments.
The greatest Warrior of all time, Peter Ndlovu, Harlington Shereni, Lloyd Hlahla, Archiford Gutu, Washington Arubi, Mthulisi Maphosa, Ovidy Karuru, Gilbert Banda, Mkhokheli Dube and Walter Musona among many others, at one point or the other during their days in high school, featured in this tournament.
With all the rich history that this tournament has built over the years since its inception in 1989, there have been glaring flaws that need serious attention lest it be robbed off its glamour and one of those is the issue of age cheating.
Age cheating and vetting:
There is no doubt that the vetting exercise is prone to manipulation by cunning headmasters and teachers bent on gaining unfair advantage over others, thereby forsaking the core values and principles of the tournament that include Fair Play.
One would be forgiven to suspect that Prince Edward High and Chemhanza High School players in the 2015 edition of the tournament were overage only judging by their frames.
That some schools give supplements to their players could be unknown to some and the diet that other players get could also be unheard of to some.
Be that as it may, without the assistance of technological machinery to ascertain age, vetting remains a challenge and a fertile ground for cheating is created.
Only last year, Chemhenza High were fined about $9 000 for age cheating after it emerged well after winning the tournament that they had used over-aged players.
A controversial age-vetting exercise has not helped things either. In fact, it is this age vetting exercise that has been a nauseating yet permanent part of an otherwise exciting and valuable talent development competition.
Only last year, a total of 35 boys were adjudged over age after undergoing a rather cruel vetting process that included physical vetting and the use of national identity documents.
Mkondwa High from Mashonaland East earned the sympathy of many neutrals after the school was left with only nine eligible players after vetting.
Thus Moses Chunga thinks those that are eventually found on the wrong side of the regulations must pay heavily for their unprofessional behaviour, including losing their jobs.
“Age cheating could be curtailed. It does not necessarily need machinery although it could also be nice to have age verification technology. There is need to punish heavily those that are found on the wrong side of the laws and regulations when it comes to age cheating.
“If people can be fired for leaking exams, then why not fire those teachers and headmasters that are propagating age cheating. In a way they are killing our football. Their crime is just as treasonous as those that are leaking exams. Monetary fines may not be deterrent,” said the straight talking gaffer.
Disorderliness in school teams’ technical staff
Imagine you are on the field of play and you have five people on the technical bench, one of them shouting at you to run up field, the other telling you to remain where you are, while the other one is instructing you go steps backward.
Only heavens know what the other two would be instructing you to do at the same time!
This is the challenge that most pupils find themselves in whenever they are playing competitive matches in most schools soccer tournaments, not only the Copa Coca Cola tournament.
The sad feature that came out clear during the 2015 edition of this tournament was the confusion and disorder that characterised most schools technical benches especially in the group stages of the competition where instructions to players could be hurled from one end to the other.
“We were at one of these schools soccer tournament when a youngster came to the bench and asked the coaches what exactly they wanted him to do because he was no longer understanding their instructions.
“I think the authorities in these tournaments should come up with strict laws and regulations on who should be on the bench as well as the behaviour of those appointed to sit on the technical bench,” said one retired footballer who was also watching the 2015 Coca Coca Cola tournament this year.
Online Reporter