By Omar
Bah
A spokesperson of The Gambia Football Federation, GFF, has said
on Monday they will protest against a decision by the Confederation of African
Football to disqualify The Gambia from the U-20 Championship for fielding
ineligible players.
CAF’s decision on April 21 came after Liberia’s FA protest over
Gambia’s used of over-aged players during the first leg of the qualifiers in
Monrovia which Gambia won 1-0.
“The GFF is innocent and we were acting on the rules and
regulations that were presented to us. The players that we selected were
under-20 and they are eligible to play the qualifiers,” argued FA spokesman
Buba Star Janneh.
Below 20 years
“If you are nineteen years old and eleven months twenty five days
you are still U-20 and for that being the case all those players we featured
were below 20 years,” he said.
CAF
rules states the competition is reserved for players born on or after 1 January
1995, as stated in a circular dated 2 September 2013 sent to all its member
associations of CAF.
"Indeed, Sampere Mendy, BubaSanneh, Bubacarr Trawally, Saloum Faal and Ali Sowe were all born in 1994 and are not qualified to participate…,” a CAF organizing committee agreed on April 21 announcing Gambia expulsion.
"Indeed, Sampere Mendy, BubaSanneh, Bubacarr Trawally, Saloum Faal and Ali Sowe were all born in 1994 and are not qualified to participate…,” a CAF organizing committee agreed on April 21 announcing Gambia expulsion.
It
also cancelled the second leg of Gambia Vs Liberia that was scheduled for 25-27
April and declared Liberia “qualified” for the next round.
But Janneh said all the players mentioned were below 20 years. He
said CAF did not indicate any specific age in their regulations.
A bit
confused
“When Liberia protested, we were a bit confused because the passports
of the players in question were U-20, then it turns out somewhere that only
players born on 1st January 1995 were eligible to compete in the
qualifiers, but [only] when CAF sent us a formal complain dated on the 14th
April, 2014,” Janneh said.
He argued that the match commissioner should have disallowed any
player that is beyond the age limit.
Also, he said the GFF has not seen the circular that was sent by
CAF to the then normalization committee. “The Gambia Football Federation is
going to protest against the decision.”
National
embarrassment
The
National Sports Council (NSC), a technical arm of the ministry of youth and
sports, has stated that it received the news "with total
consternation."
"The
National Sports Council condemns the decision of the Gambia Football Federation
for using overage players which has caused ‘national embarrassment’ to the
country which could have been avoided," its director said.
It
announced on Monday a task force to investigate The Gambia's disqualification from the U-20
Championship that will be hosted by neighbouring Senegal in 2015.
In
a statement, the NSC said it will accordingly "take appropriate
action" but fall short of giving details as to what that means.
GFF's
incompetence
"This
clearly shows incompetence of Gambia Football Federation as they were advised
on a circular that only players born on 1st January 1995 or after
this date are eligible to play in this championship," Abdul Aziz Titao
Mendy, NSC's Executive Director said.
Mendy
said the GFF was given expert advice 24 hours before The Gambia vs Liberia game that they
needed to go strictly by the dictates of the CAF circular.
The
GFF will be expected to take full responsibility of their own wrong judgment
and act professionally in such circumstances, the NSC states. "It is also
expected that the owners of football will do the appropriate thing in the
interest of the country. The Gambia is definitely bigger than personal
sentiments."
- This entry first appeared on The Voice newspaper
Additional reporting by Modou S. Joof
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