Abstract:
Age-cheating in football has become a perennial problem, especially in the various categories of age-group competitions held by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA). This irregularity contributed to the poor development of football in Nigeria as well as her performance in FIFA competitions. Previous studies focused on the causes of cheating in sports, without adequate consideration for administrative measures to curb cheating. This study, therefore, was designed to investigate some administrative measures (biometric data registration at birth and at first competition, medical examination, identity card issuance and punitive measures) in curbing cheating in age-group competitions among footballers in Nigeria.
Theory of Planned Behaviour and the descriptive survey design were adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used to select five out of the six existing sports development zones in Nigeria, while four states were randomly selected from each zone. Two football clubs, duly registered with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were purposively selected from each state, while 30 footballers were randomly selected from each club. Twenty football coaches in each of the 20 States’ Football Associations (SFAs) were randomly selected, while 245 sports administrators across the 20 SFAs, state and federal ministries of sports were consulted. Twenty sportswriters were randomly selected from each of the states’ Sports Writers Association. Data were obtained from clubs’ diaries, footballers’ biodata, footballers’ birthday certificates, while the verifications of their birthdays were confirmed from the National Population Commission. These were complemented with: five sessions of Focus Group Discussions with footballers; In-depth interviews with two each of sportswriters, administrators and coaches from each of the sports development zones. Simple percentages were used to analyse quantitative data, while qualitative data were content analysed.
Signatures (90.0%) Iris (3.0%), fingerprints (3.0%), voices (2.0%) and gaits (2.0%) (biometric tests), were the administrative measures instituted by the SFAs and NFF. However, these were only instituted at the points of players’ registration for age-group competitions. The hurried approach in the application of the measures at the beginning of competitions allowed for foul-plays. The clubs relied solely (100.0%) on the information provided by the players without proper verifications (100.0%) which made the instituted administrative measures to be full of flaws. Data registration at birth and at first competitions were rarely recognised and used by the clubs, SFAs and NFF. Magnetic Resonance Imaging tests conducted by the NFF and the SFAs often contradicted that of FIFA and resulted in ill-preparations for international competitions. Identity card issuance (85.5%), which was the major measure put in place by the clubs, was not properly regulated by the SFAs and NFF. Disqualification (100.0%) from competitions was the highest punitive measure ever instituted by the NFF. Offenders comprising the players, clubs, as well as the SFAs were not adequately reprimanded for age-cheating. Consequently, this allowed for continuous age falsifications by the players and their clubs.
The administrative measures put in place against age-cheating among football players in Nigeria are ineffective. Sanctions by the regulatory bodies have not curbed the menace.
