Coaches in Dedza have expressed concern over the tendency of some teams which field over-aged players during matches in the FMB Under-20 Football League in the district.
Speaking in separate interviews, Joseck Chulu and Chikumbutso Mkandawire who are coaches for Kamba Pirates and Dedza Soccer Saints respectively said fielding over-aged players is taking place in the league a development which is affecting young players’ performance.
Chulu noted that although the players go through screening process, players over the age of 20 are playing in the league.
He said this affects young players below 20 as they fail to play good football due to presence of older players.
Chulu then urged football coaches to be mindful when selecting their players.
His Soccer Saints counterpart Mkandawire disclosed that some teams field over-aged players due to lack of valuable information about their players.
Mkandawire added that overage players quarrel with referees and their young opponents which in the end affect the proceedings of the games.
“Most of the times over-aged players do not play with a mission, what they usually do is that they quarrel with coaches from their opponents in the end the game is not desirable to watch,” he said
He then urged football administrators to ensure that football players playing in the FMB Under-20 league are not more than 20 years of age.
Commenting on the development, Crink Mahilasi who is General Secretary for Dedza District Youth Football admitted that some players in the FMB U-20 league are over-aged.
Mahilasi said as one way of curbing the misconduct, next season the national identity cards will be used in order to know the exact information of a player so that issues of age cheating should be history in the district’s FMB Under-20 Football League.
Said Mahilasi: “We have had those problems, you see in this scenario we cannot run away from this problem, because it has become a syndrome in Africa.
“But here in Malawi we have this initiative of the national identity cards, I feel next season we will have a simple task as far as age cheating is concerned, hence we are looking forward to be using the IDs next year so that only young players should be eligible to play.”
At the moment, as the 2017 FMB Under-20 football league season is coming to an end in the district, Soccer Saints are topping the table with 56 points while Kamba Pirates are second with 52 points.
Hey guys, what you are saying is true. Age cheating is very rampant in football which hinders young aged players to show talent. Keep it up Crink what you are saying will really help to identify who is a real under 20. Keep it up and make sure soccer is at its best in Dedza.