NFF board meets over Eaglets age scandal
Sports Aug 22, 2009 Members of the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation are running from pillar to post following the result of the Magnetic Resounding Imaging (MRI) scan carried out on the players of the Golden Eaglets.



And the NFF has called for an emergency meeting scheduled for Tuesday at the football house to discuss the issue and the next line of action. The players have already been recalled from their training camp in Bauchi.


Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, an Executive Committee member of the NFF and chairman of the Technical Committee would however not disclose the exact number of players that failed the MRI test said, while responding to questions in Abuja Friday, that the football house would critically deliberate on the MRI report on the players of golden Eaglets.

“We have not discussed the MRI report since it was sent, and we have scheduled next Tuesday to critically deliberate on it. At the interim, we have asked the players to quickly return to Abuja”, Chief Ogunjobi said.

He however stated that the withdrawal of the Eaglets from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association tournament was to avoid international embarrassment.

The players have spent barely one week from the two weeks they were supposed to spend in Bauchi before their MRI result was released by the National Hospital where the test was done.

NFF has however directed that the Golden Eaglets’ parents should be summoned to ascertain the exact date of birth of the players.
Reports have it that the result of 28 of the 35 players sent to the National Hospital for the MRI screening indicated that they are above the Under-17 required for the Fifa cadet championship, which holds between October 24 and November 15 in the country.


Dr Ikpeme, who is the NFF deputy general secretary (Technical) had earlier stated that it was a good development that the result of the test was received before the team was sent to participate in the CECAFA tournament holding in three cities of Sudan – Khartoum, Juba and Medani.

“The NFF could have spent huge sum of money in sponsoring the team which a good number of the players would eventually not be part of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup that we are hosting later in the year.

“We will want a situation where about 18 to 20 per cent of the players that would represent the country in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup will progress to the next level. Presently we have some players that participated in the Under-17 championship in Korea that are in the current Under-20 team. Such progression is what the NFF is working toward achieving, and we should be commended for embarking on the test exercise to ensuring that rightful players in the under-17 are featured in the category”, Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme said.

Remarkably, John Obuh, the newly appointed coach of the Golden Eaglets; the third to handle the team since it was assembled, is however confused over the MRI result that has thrown spanner into his works even though he inherited the alleged over age players from his predecessor – Henry Nwosu
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/22/nff-board-meets-over-eaglets-age-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-37762

asha 80:



He however stated that the withdrawal of the Eaglets from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association tournament was to avoid international embarrassment.

Reports have it that the result of 28 of the 35 players sent to the National Hospital for the MRI screening indicated that they are above the Under-17 required for the Fifa cadet championship, which holds between October 24 and November 15 in the country

Nigeria we hail thee!!

This guy should be in Nollywood. See him feign ignorance over an issue that even kindergarten kids are well aware of.

Nigeria we hail thee!!

before nko? it is an open secret and it spans all the age categories. They better start scanning the other age group before greater disgrace.

no wonder its always easy 4 us 2 win U-20 nd U-17 when pple in thier late 40's will b on d pitch with thier last pikin's mate, what a shame

AhM3D:

no wonder its always easy 4 us 2 win U-20 nd U-17 when pple in thier late 40's will b on d pitch with thier last pikin's mate, what a shame

28 out of 35 failed the MRI scan test, thats quite outstanding cos from my own angle i feel ALL of them will fail knowing the age brackets of those boys  

It will be interesting to note that FIFA introduced to MRI scan test when they observed that some nations (i.e Africa) are always doing well in age competitions and those players will have faded out before reaching the level of playing for their respective national teams.  

AhM3D:

no wonder its always easy 4 us 2 win U-20 nd U-17 when pple in thier late 40's will b on d pitch with thier last pikin's mate,  what a shame 

ROFLMAO._{True talk!}

it's not like we don't know about these things but what i want to know is their actual age. some could be 30yrs sef.

kshow1:

28 out of 35 failed the MRI scan test, thats quite outstanding cos from my own angle i feel ALL of them will fail knowing the age brackets of those boys  

It will be interesting to note that FIFA introduced to MRI scan test when they observed that some nations (i.e Africa) are always doing well in age competitions and those players will have faded out before reaching the level of playing for their respective national teams.  

You're a clown,

Thank God this measure has been introduced. Maybe it will force our government to start taking school level sports events seriously.

How them go take sabi the real age of a person.

Oyibo be agbaragba!

adaku123:


LOL!!! See Disgrace OH

Their parents will start forging documents now

Haha

And we wonder why europians and to some extent south american players last long in the game while there nigerian counterparts fizzle out in about 5 years as they are about getting to their 'peak'.

well, this doesn't suprise me one bit! I've always known those old MEN were way beyond the stipulated age. Nigerians will just never seize to embarass themselves. How on earth were they parading the field trying to make us believe they were actually under 17? NA BY FORCE?

ROFLMAO, LWKMD!!!  
I tire for this Naija oh! As in, any1 watching the just concluded World Athletics Championships wud again have seen this. Even tho that competition does not have an age barrier, sometimes, when the camera pans over a nigerian athlete, the commentators wud pass comments like, "this young lady is the current world youth (or under 21 or african youth) champion in her discipline. She is just 20 years old." And mehn, wen I c the face of the athlete in question, I wud just cringe cos any1 who's nigerian knows that that young lady is not younger than 35yrs!!!

What can I say, evry day for the thief, one day for the owner. They've finally been caught out!

But really, we are a corrupt nation. Fine! Why go and disgrace ourselves on the world's stage to worsen things? Surely Madam Dora must have sum positive light in which to spin this? Abi isnt this a step in the right direction towards the further humiliation rebranding of Nigeria?

finally we r taking a step in the positive direction . . this would help give a chance for the real youth to get involved in sports . .

NFF has however directed that the Golden Eaglets’ parents should be summoned to ascertain the exact date of birth of the players

I wonder what this will achieve, the MRI Scan result has put a lie to what the boys claimed to be their ages, what were they expecting the parents to say? And even if the parents of the affected players claim that their boys are within the age limit for the competition, whose report will FIFA believe? I don't even expect most of the parents to say the truth in a nation where some parents recruit mercenaries to sit for exams for their children. It only shows the extent of our rottenness as a nation.

the problem most people are glossing over is that it means we have no team to represent us at the U-17 world cup we are hosting.

Only 7 of 35 players eligible as of now and isnt the competition in a few months time?

davidylan:

the problem most people are glossing over is that it means we have no team to represent us at the U-17 world cup we are hosting.

Only 7 of 35 players eligible as of now and isnt the competition in a few months time?

Don't worry. The FG will soon withdraw from the competition, hinging it on economic meltdown

not a news to me to be honest,what about you?

See as Nigerians dey disgrace themselves. . . .

You expect pple to treat you with you respect yet you fail to respect yourselves.

hahaha, but is dis only in nigeria? i dnt think so!

it happens all over the world.

I am not suprised a bit

@Topic
hahahaaaaa! So much for 'under' 17

playah P:

it happens all over the world.

It happens in south america(to a little extent),eastern europe,africa but definitly not in western europe and northern americas.

@mandiiee i just checked our profile, you are so cute. can i chat with you on yahoo mess?