Regular Football411 columnist and South Africa footballing guru Ted Dumitru believes SAFA's latest battle against age cheating is set to fall short in the long-run.
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African football has long been plagued by the scourge of cheating, with age manipulation one of the biggest deterrents to development in the country.
SAFA recently joined up with the German Football Association to take advantage of their comprehensive digital system, whereby every single player, coach, referee and official in the country will be registered in a centralised database freely available online.
And while Dumitru admits the approach has its merits, he believes there are more progressive tactics domestic football's governing body could take towards eradicating the problem.
He said: The issue of age cheating involves several aspects related to both a centralised database and systematic youth development. It is quite naive to believe that by just registering players from the earliest age the problem of age cheating will be solved.
There are countless examples - including those from the best youth development structures, i.e, Spain - where many young players are coming into the system of centralised registration at the age of 12-14 ('late talent discoveries') which is five to six years later than those who have been in the database from the ages of six to seven.
In Africa this is the most common case as the actual youth development programs start very late - at the age of 12-14 or even later. It is in this gap that young players' identities and dates-of-birth can be changed.
To prevent age cheating in South African football, it is essential that, in addition to early registration of players, intensive work is done on addressing the matter through coach education, parent, school/teacher and community programs that propagate anti-age cheating mentality.
To best achieve this objective it is necessary that ALL youth development programs are community based, thus facilitating a more effective control and monitoring of young talent. This is the prerequisite in fighting age cheating in Africa.
Ted Dumitru
Have you got something you would like to add, or are you interested in making your voice heard? Well, we're eager to hear what you have to say, so simply email football@teamtalkmedia.com and we'll see what South Africans think.
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Reader comments:
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I think SAFA/clubs should sick amicable strategy to bond with Home Affairs and parents involve that would possible to enhance to curb age cheating on our shore also use database store the information, received from those parties. The age cheating could be prevented if accountability been implemented to restore consistency.
Wandile
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