Forever young: Nigerian football's age-old problem

[Sonatine 11545]

Forever young: Nigerian football's age-old problem

 

Nwankwo Kanu is 42 and Taribo West, whose career ended two years ago, is in his late fifties, say bloggers in Nigeria

 

Nwankwo Kanu's official age is 33 but his real age is 42. Obafemi Martins is not 25 but 32. Jay-Jay Okocha was 10 years older than his "official" age throughout his career. And Taribo West, whose playing career ended only two years ago, is in his late fifties. Who says so? A stream of bloggers on some of Nigeria's most popular websites, in response to comments made after the country's timid effort in last month's Africa Cup of Nations.

 

Failure to win that trophy is nearly always considered a scandal in the continent's most populous nation but Nigeria's latest misadventure in the tournament triggered a particularly explosive condemnation back home.

 

It started when a former manager of a leading Nigerian club told the Lagos Guardian: "What happened in Angola is a confirmation of what has been happening in the past where most of our players falsified their age during competition. Most of the players are beyond the age they professed and this made it impossible for them to withstand the pace of teams like Zambia and Benin."

 

It also led to an entertaining discussion that shows no sign of abating as the Nigerians, who have three months to prepare for the World Cup, reacted to the criticism by sacking the coach. "Our boys are old, we are paying the price for age cheating," said Ken Anugweje, a former national team doctor and board member of the Nigerian Football Federation.

 

Suspicions about true ages of some Nigerian footballers date back 20 years. Fifa banned Nigeria from all international fixtures for two years after finding that the birth dates of three of their players in the 1988 Olympics were different from ones used by the same players in previous tournaments.

 

A year later Pelé famously declared "an African team will definitely win the World Cup by the turn of the century" after watching seemingly promising Nigerian youngsters lift the Under-17 World Cup and reach the final of the Under-20 competition. How was Pelé to know that the so-called Under-20s of 1989 were so old that, in the words of George Onmonya on nigeriavillagesquare.com, "most of our players have now retired and become grandpas"?

 

Nigeria have a rich tradition of seemingly promising youngsters who mysteriously fail to fulfil their potential. Phillip Osondu was the best player at the 1987 Under-17 World Cup, after which he was snapped up by Anderlecht, only to drift out of the game and into janitorial work after questions were raised about his real age.

 

The star of Nigeria's finalists at the 2001 Under-17 competition went on to become officially the third-youngest player to appear in the senior World Cup when he started the 0-0 draw with England in 2002. But that was as good as it got for Femi Opabunmi, who by 2005 was playing part-time football in the French lower leagues.

 

A trawl through the blogosphere makes for intriguing reading. "A friend of mine who once played in the Nigerian league told me his real age was 34 but his football age was 21," wrote Onmonya. "You can walk into any immigration office in Nigeria today, forge documents at the nearby business centre, change your name, place of birth, date of birth, pay 7,000-10,000 naira instead of the official price of about 5,500 for an international passport and within hours you have completed the whole process." A new passport, a new person – and if you are a footballer, a younger one.

 

A former employee of the British embassy in Nigeria told Observer Sport that when visa applicants complained to him about having their applications rejected, he would reply: "Well don't talk to me about it, I'm dead." He would respond to their looks of puzzlement by pointing to the wall behind him, on which hung his death certificate, purchased for a small fee from a Lagos supplier. Fifa reckon they have finally come up with a foolproof way of determining real age. Ahead of last year's Under-17 World Cup in, as it happened, Nigeria, the governing body announced that players would be subjected to wrist scans using magnetic resonance imaging, and this would determine their true age.

 

That led some countries to undertake precautionary scans beforehand. The results were never announced, but Nigeria suddenly discarded 15 squad members, while Gambia omitted 11 of the 18 who had helped them to victory in the African Under-17 championship a few months earlier. Reports claim that retrospective analyses of the previous three Under-17 World Cups showed more than a third of all players were too old.

 

[Ayatollah Hermione 14053]

Martins being in his 30s makes his childish strops even funnier in retrospect.

[Bombadil 0]

There's no way Martins is 25.

[Andrew 4858]

yes, these are reliable sources

[TicTacWoe 0]

Inter supposedly did some sort of tests to prove that Martins was the age he says he is. I've heard that Babayaro was almost certainly older than he professed as if the age he gives is real than he would have made his international debut aged 14 or something like that in retrospect.

[acrossthepond 878]

As long as his age stays 25 on FM I'm happy.

[Kitman 2207]

Maybe a bit exaggerated but I can believe the gist of this. Martins always looked way older than his official age to me.

[Dr Gloom 22155]

i still think kanu would do a job for us this season, even at 55 or however old he's supposed to be

[Papa Lazaru 0]

i still think kanu would do a job for us this season, even at 55 or however old he's supposed to be

 

Its not just Nigerians either, you can't tell me that Nolan, Smith and Butt are under 40 with the speed they sometimes play at!

[sammynb 3508]

Inter supposedly did some sort of tests to prove that Martins was the age he says he is. I've heard that Babayaro was almost certainly older than he professed as if the age he gives is real than he would have made his international debut aged 14 or something like that in retrospect.

 

More likely after dealing with him and watching the way he dealt with his finances/life for how ever long he was at Inter, they merely came to the conclusion that there is no way in hell a 40 year old male could be that fucking dumb!

[toon_don 0]

Maybe a bit exaggerated but I can believe the gist of this. Martins always looked way older than his official age to me.

 

So does Wayne Rooney. I refuse to believe that none of the big European clubs that all the players have played for have Doctors that wouldn't have picked up on this. Most of the article seems to be heresay to me.

[Guest alex]

Hearsay? I think it's complete bollocks

[meshman 0]

its all true and ill prove it when my £6million from my long lost aunt who died in nigeria, clears in the bank. then youll all be sorry.

[Kitman 2207]

Maybe a bit exaggerated but I can believe the gist of this. Martins always looked way older than his official age to me.

 

So does Wayne Rooney. I refuse to believe that none of the big European clubs that all the players have played for have Doctors that wouldn't have picked up on this. Most of the article seems to be heresay to me.

 

I assume the doctors can only tell so much from non invasive tests. I agree about the hearsay and I don't think the article's credible in the extent of its claims; however I wouldn't be surprised if a few years were knocked off in some cases by unscrupulous agents to make a player look like a world beater. I doubt it's limited to Nigeria (or Africa for that matter) either.

[DubiousBobcat 0]

I can't take the article seriously at all simply because of the Taribo West part. There is no way he is 20 years older than he states.

[Kitman 2207]

I can't take the article seriously at all simply because of the Taribo West part. There is no way he is 20 years older than he states.

 

Yeah, I find that a bit daft. Although if he was going bald and grey it would explain the loony hairstyles