David GOMBE
Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Association (USSSA) President Justus Mugisha has opened up on the overage and age cheating in the schools championship.
According to Mugisha, some schools invest a lot in fourth and third division players
“We have a registration system that captures data on all players that play at district, zones and national level. At national level we displayed all albums of all players that came to play and this was after we had screened out impersonators. Since we displayed out these albums there has been a high number of petitions at national level, we started receiving petitions at the very beginning.”
“We have discovered that schools are investing a lot, they get players who are already playing in the FUFA leagues such as the fourth and third divisions. They take them back to P.7, they seat and then cut their ages by as many as five years, ten years and then they start a fresh.
“We have discovered that some players are actually 26 years of age but were taken back to P.7 and now their pass lips are reading 16 years of age when actually they are 26.”
“As USSSA we shall continue to fight on and we shall bank on the support of everybody.”
At the ongoing USSSA National Boys’ Football Championship in Masaka, there has been very many petitions regarding overage that saw some schools being disqualified.
Action will resume on Saturday with holders St Mary’s Kitende battling it out with Jinja Progressive Academy ( JIPRA) and Bukedea Comprehensive facing off with St Julian at the semifinal stage.
The tournament that comprised of 64 schools across the country will climax on Sunday with the third place playoff and the Final.