daniel chigunwe
Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
PREMIERSHIP football giants Dynamos have opened internal investigations into age-cheating allegations levelled against their Under-17 team.
The Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe-coached side was expelled from the Marvellous Nakamba Foundation Invitational Under-17 tournament staged at White City in Bulawayo over the weekend after one of their players Dylan Gumbe’s age was flagged.
Gumbe, who was in the national Under-17 side for the 2017 COSAFA tournament two years ago, is said to be 21-years-old. The tournament was for players aged 17 and under.
And upon realisation that DeMbare could have cheated, the tournament organisers, after painstaking enquiries and a meticulous verification exercise, disqualified the team.
That was after Dynamos had already completed all their group matches.
They were in Group A along with Highlanders, Njube Sundowns and eventual champions MAJESA.
Dynamos had topped that group after winning all their games beating MAJESA 3-0, Bosso (1-0) and Njube Sundowns (3-1).
But it was then detected Gumbe was an over-aged player and should not have been fielded, resulting in the expulsion of his team.
Reports say he was born in 2000 which means he is turning 22 this year.
He is a Form Four student at Rusununguko High School in Goromonzi.
The left-winger is also a key member of the club’s junior team which he also captains.
Stakeholders roundly condemned Dynamos over the act and yesterday the team revealed they had opened an internal enquiry to find out what exactly happened.
DeMbare’s executive chairman, Isaiah Mupfurutsa, said the club was treating the matter with urgency though they are not pointing fingers, at least, as yet.
“We are not yet pointing anyone until we finish our investigations.
“As a club we don’t condone such practice (age-cheating) and as (Dynamos) management we always make a plea for people to shun such unprofessional conduct,” said Mupfurutsa.
“However, we are still carrying out investigations internally to establish the correct facts and at the appropriate time we will communicate the action we will have taken.”
Age-cheating is rampant in this country, especially at junior level, threatening to destroy the very foundations of development.
Several organisations, including the Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (SLIZ), have come up to preach the gospel of integrity in sport. SLIZ holds autumn, winter and summer camps to try and conscientise stakeholders on the demerits of unfair practices, especially at junior level.
And the institute’s president, Russel Mhiribidi, said clubs need to field players of the right age in junior tournaments if the country is to do well in international tournaments.
“I have heard about the accusations being pointed at Dynamos. If those allegations are true, then it’s very unfortunate. Dynamos are proven winners and they should not try and manipulate documents just to win a developmental tournament,” he said.
“If true, it means a lot of people are actually complicit in this whole thing.
“Generally, people should shun these bad practices. Our problem as a people is that we want to do well in sport without doing sport well. We should always be professional because surely playing an over-aged player in an age-group tournament means we are denying the right players an opportunity to really develop.”
Online Reporter