Two seasoned sports administrators have said they are convinced The Gambia have not flouted any rule. |
Gambians continue to wait anxiously for CAF to decide on the allegations leveled against The Gambia U-20. It has been 10 days since Liberia appealed against The Gambia for alleged use of five over age players, writes journalist Sang Mendy on Facebook.
Since then, there have been
conflicting reports about player eligibility. The Liberians claimed that only
players born January 1, 1995 are eligible to play in the qualifiers.
On the contrary, authorities at the
Gambia Football Federation (GFF) state that players born in 1994 are eligible
to play in the qualifiers until they turn 20.
The Gambia defeated Liberia 1-0 in
Monrovia last week in the first leg of qualifiers for the 2015 African U20
youth championship that will be hosted by neighbouring Senegal.
No rules flouted
The 2nd Vice President of
the GFF, KebbaTouray, who was the first to rubbish the Liberia appeal continued
to call on Gambians to remain optimistic because they have “not flouted the
rules of the competition.”
Two seasoned sports administrators,
a former staff of the GFA and former executive member of the GFA who begged for
anonymity are all convinced that unless there are new rules governing this
competition, The Gambia have not flouted any rule.
The duo said that unless the rules
are changed players born in 1994 can play until they turn 20.
It would be recalled that Congo has
also appealed against Niger for use of players born in 1994.
In the letter sent to all CAF
affiliated countries dated September 2, 2013, all associations have been warned
that only players born January 1, 1995 are qualified to play in the
championship.
In my earlier conversation with the
CAF media officer, Junior Binyam pointed out that only players born in 1995 and
above are eligible to play in the competition.
The bone of contention here is about
which player is qualified to play in the qualifiers of the CAF U-20
championship due to played in Senegal next year.
What is not clear is the rule
itself. The rule covering player eligibility states that players born in 1994
are not eligible to play in the competition. Does that mean, they are not
qualified to play in the qualifiers or in the tournament proper?
This is what confuses people and is
killing me, is it killing you too? In my views they must be clear.
Reactions
Facebook user BakauUtd commented: “Hahaha Gambia let's pray
for the best, Caf is very similar to GFF, Bakau United have to wait for two
months before we know our fate when Wallidan made an appeal against us and now
we still waiting on GFF for another appeal we made against Real De
Banjul...”
LaminJassey wrote: “You made the issue much
clearer in my view. The question here is, are these Gambian players in question
qualified to play in the qualifiers? This question can only be answered by Caf
since there are no regulations that clearly states this. So yes it's a wait and
see affair Sang.”
Another facebook user Alieu
Bah says:
“I think our "U-20" are as old as the hills.” His fellow facebook
user Omar OjJobe says “Gambian football [is] up in
smoke”
In his contributing to the discussion, BulFaaleh wrote: “You know.This portion of
player eligibility as it is, is really confusing... I bet when the letter was
read by the GFF staffers it’s confusing...thus a scenario like this would have
been avoided if GFF had just sent an email to the secretary general for clarification...”
Then, Ba Jabbi wrote: “Decide they will and then
the GFF legal minds will speak! Why are the legal luminaries mute? What is so
complex in a document that cannot be fully deciphered by us, Gambians! As far
as I am concerned we should not be found wanting in simple issues like player
eligibility. Gambian football must have passed that stage. This document is not
the davinci code, for the love of God.”
Al Amin Jahateh wrote: “Well if CAF said players
born after 31stDec 1994 are not eligible to play the competition,
obviously it should mean they are not qualified to play the qualifiers because
with my limited knowledge of football, it is those who played the qualifiers
who are supposed to play the competition. So why use overage players in the
qualifiers for them to help you to win but only to drop them when you are going
for the competition proper? Well, I think the CAF rule is clear in writing, may
be its interpretation could be confusing because all laws are subjected to
interpretation.”
LaminJassey endorsed Al Amin Jahateh’s view.“You
have a point there!” he wrote.
You are free to continue the debate here.
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