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| GFF President Mustapha Kebbeh (Photo Credit: Sang Mendy) |
The Gambia Football Federation, GFF, Wednesday announced it will
invite the police to investigate the age-cheating saga that led to the
country’s expulsion from the U20 qualifiers last
week.
Following an appeal by Liberia over Gambia’s use of ineligible
players during the first leg of the qualifiers in
Monrovia which Gambia won 1-0, the continent’s football governing body, CAF,
announced it has expelled The Gambia.
"Indeed,
Sampere Mendy, Buba Sanneh, 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.
CAF
rules states the competition is reserved for players born on or after 1 January
1995, as stated in a September 2, 2013 circular sent to all its member
associations.
It has since cancelled the second leg of Gambia Vs Liberia that was scheduled for 25-27 April and declared Liberia “qualified” for the next round.
It has since cancelled the second leg of Gambia Vs Liberia that was scheduled for 25-27 April and declared Liberia “qualified” for the next round.
On April 23, GFF President Mustapha Kebbeh said “the police as a
professional investigative body are best suited to probe the matter.”
Kebbeh said he had sleepless nights and great distress over
Gambia’s expulsion which he described as a very sad.
The GFF President also said they will take up responsibility as
leaders and learn from this incident. He said corrective measures will be
taken.
Kebbeh’s comments came 72 hours after his Spokesperson Buba
‘Star’ Janneh said GFF will protest CAF’s decision.
Janneh argued: “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.
“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.
“The Gambia Football Federation is going to protest against the
decision.”
The
National Sports Council (NSC), a body that oversees sports affairs as 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
has since announce a task force to investigate The Gambia's disqualification from the U-20
youth 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.
Abdul
Aziz Titao Mendy, NSC's Executive Director said: "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.
“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.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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