Africa-Press – Angola. The adulteration of ages, by athletes of different levels, is hampering the development of national sport, according to sports agents in the province of Huambo.
Heard by press on the subject “The adulteration of ages in the national and African sports system, with a focus on football”, they considered it to be a serious problem associated with under-development and which discredits Angolan sport.
For the president of the São João do Huambo Handball School, Osvaldo Congo, the phenomenon constitutes one of the transversal constraints of Angolan sport, as it causes numerous consequences, from the point of view of the technical and tactical development of the athletes, taking into account their condition physical and advanced real age.
Therefore, it considers it necessary and urgent to look at this reality with greater responsibility, in order to put an end to this practice, motivated by several factors.
He pointed to the late access to school of many children, registered according to the level of education, as one of the reasons, ending up evolving in sport and with few possibilities for changing the framework.
As a solution, he suggested improving public services, mainly citizen registration, as well as changing the awareness of athletes, coaches and guardians about the need to refrain from these practices, in addition to implementing greater rigor in assessing ages. of the players.
Sports commentator Pedro Filemón said that the decreasing graph of national sport proves the consequences of these attitudes.
He considered it to be common in sports competitions, especially on the African continent, where athletes, with the intention of evolving to the highest levels, tend to reduce their ages, in order to have greater credibility to ascend to categories.
According to the specialist, one of the consequences of adulteration of ages is that it affects the technical evolution of practitioners and the failure in medical tests, taking into account the advancement of real age.
These practices, according to the former football player of Ferrovia, Petro do Huambo e Mambroa, have led to the premature end of the sports career of many athletes.
He added that the situation, resulting from the lack of monitoring of the players, ended up discouraging the business class from investing in Angolan sport.
Sociological view of the situation
Sociologist José Abraão Mulusi stated that the adulteration of ages in sport and in football, in particular, is a continuation of what happens today in society, where people no longer trust each other.
He explained that the phenomenon results from people’s eagerness to reach high levels in their careers, without looking at the means and measures to achieve the intended goals.
According to the sociologist and former international for the National Football Team, a person who is, for example, 17 years old and who has decreased to 13, will notice an abysmal difference in movements and speed, deceiving himself , coaches and sports organizations, with serious consequences at various levels.
José Abraão Mulusi added that such procedures demonstrate, to a certain extent, the breakdown of families, as, in most cases, they rely on the collaboration of parents, without measuring the consequences of the action.
This situation, according to the sociologist, discredits football and the national justice system at an international level, by revealing the degree of fragility, from the ethical point of view of the institutions, hence the need for greater rigor in the athletes’ registration process, as a way to end or inhibit practices of adulteration of ages.
civil identification service
The head of the Civil and Criminal Identification Service department in Huambo province, Hélder Paulo Gomes, said that this is a phenomenon that, in this region, is more frequent for young people who intend to join the Angolan Armed Forces.
There is also a change in mentality or when someone assumes the identity of another person in order to obtain benefits, with the arrest, in 2022, of five cases referred to the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC).
In the particular case of sport, Hélder Paulo Gomes informed that the institution has a system capable of identifying any attempt to tamper with the data, as birth registration is done right after birth.
After the birth registration, he added, personal data are computer coded and any attempt at fraudulent alteration creates two pieces of information from a single person and, therefore, blocks the system until the person concerned goes to the identification point to restore legality.
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