Shillong, Sep 4: Meghalaya’s team at the U-15 boys’ Subroto Cup 2025 are heading home prematurely from Bengaluru after four of the squad were found to be too old.
Meghalaya was meant to be represented at the tournament by Mawtneng Upper Primary & Secondary School, which won the state title in July. It’s not known which boys exactly were disqualified.
The organisers are taking age fraud particularly seriously this year and Mawtneng is one of 21 schools that have been axed, it has been reported.
Teams sent to represent Meghalaya at this tournament are supported by the Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs. However, even state teams sent by the Meghalaya Football Association have faced similar problems, such as the one sent for the Sub-Junior National Football Championship last year. Even this year there was reportedly a question mark surrounding four players in the state’s Junior Boys NFC team, though two of them were able to play in the last match but Meghalaya lost all three of their games.
Age screening is not an exact science. Officials use different methods to try and ensure that players meet age restrictions. These range from scrutinising birth certificates, examining a child’s teeth up to carrying out X-rays and MRIs.
X-rays and/or MRIs for each player can lead to an expensive medical bill and that explains why the DSYA and MFA do not regularly use them to screen their own players.
Nevertheless, it is extremely embarrassing for Meghalaya that this issue has cropped up two years running at national tournaments.
(File photo of the send-off for the U-15 boys’ and U-17 boys’ teams)
