On the first day of the under-15 Governor’s Cup in Ilorin on January 21, 2023, there was a lot of unhappiness among different teams and people involved.
They were upset about what they thought was an unfair way of checking the players. Many complaints came up, saying some players were older than the allowed age for U-15, which goes against the rules set by the screening committee.
The main issue happened because there was another round of checking after the first general one.
After asking about the cause of the issue, people said this unplanned second check let some players who were too old join in, making the competition not fair.
As someone who watches all the matches closely, it was clear to me that the U-15 category, meant for secondary school students and young talents under 15, was not being followed properly.
People were upset, saying it’s really important to have a fair and clear way of checking players to keep the tournament honest.
Unfortunately, quite a few players from Offa seemed to be older physically than what’s allowed. This added to the disagreement, with teams questioning if the committee did enough to make sure everyone followed the age rules.
The honesty and fairness needed in this early stage of football development were doubted, asking everyone involved to think again. People were worried about how this disagreement might affect the young talents who truly deserve a chance to show their skills.
I decided to speak up and tell the organizers of the tournament about these problems. I said they should quickly and thoroughly check everything to fix any mistakes.
This is very important to make sure the football development in Kwara State is fair and real. As people who take care of the game, we must stick to being open and fair to make sure our local football gets better in the right way.
