In a bold move, FC Bengaluru, Dempo SC, FC Goa, and three other Indian football clubs, including FC Mizoram, FC Madras and Reliance Young Champs Club wrote an open letter to the Indian football stakeholders, including the AIFF, regarding a long-standing issue in the sport, age fraud. In the open letter, the clubs highlighted their issues and concerns while calling for immediate action to tackle this problem going on for years in several sporting disciplines including football.
Notably, age fraud, an act of manipulating a player’s age, that allows players to compete in a lower age category, has become very persistent in sporting scenarios. The act not only compromises the integrity of competitions but also hinders the growth and progress of genuine young talent. The letter also highlighted various measures taken by the governing body, including the current TW3 verification.
6 football clubs write open letter to AIFF regarding age fraud
In the letter, the clubs wrote, ” Age Fraud brings with it a litany of problems that affect the football ecosystem. To begin with, allowing physically mature, older players to compete against younger, correctly aged children poses significant safety risks. The disparity in physical maturity can and has led to severe injuries, endangering the well-being of younger honest children. This is unacceptable.”
They added, ” It is difficult to overstate how much Age Fraud stifles progress and holds the entire sport back. Even in countries where this isn’t a prevalent issue, children who don’t make the cut often drop out, leading to a decline in participation. Add Age Fraud to the mix, this problem is exponentially exacerbated. Talented young children are overlooked, steamrolled by physically superior opposition.”
The letter talked about the ineffectiveness of the method due to the test’s shortcomings. In addition, the clubs wrote about the preventive measures taken by the Badminton Federation of India. The clubs appealed to the AIFF to institute the same schemes to clean the current system and build an honest foundation for the future of Indian football.