I Was at Connaught Semi final for u 12 Community Games in Leitrim over the weekend and Knocknacarra lost against Castlebar celtic.Well what i should say is that they lost to a guy named (no need to print his name)This guy is supposed to be 11 but he was at least 5ft 8in and legs like tree trunks,He placed a ball into the top corner from at least 30 yards out and then 10 min later ran the full lenght of the pitch to lob the keeper with out breaking sweat.I also found out that he plays for there u14 team and represented mayo league u14 in this years kennedy cup,has had trials for ireland.Who is the bad guy here..the person who gave him a dodgy birthcert.. his distict league.. or his CLUB

Something that has become more common in our underage leagues with the influx of foreign nationals!!!!
I for one would blame the fai and district leagues for accepting these lads, mostly without birthcerts (left behind by mistake) !!! A signed affadavid in front of any solicitor is sufficent for fai and their stance is "who are we to question it ".
My take on it is , they required a passport to leave their country of origin and unless this passport is submitted and checked , they can not play at all. Would solve the problem quickly and mark my words if it was an Irish kid with a sworn statement , do you think the fai or district leagues would be happy , if he were 5-8 and as strong as a horse????
Lastly , you can not blame individual clubs mainly for the stance the fai are taking as regards legality but also the fact that other clubs will play them if you dont!! Also is it not illegal to have an 11 yr old playing u14s????

Also is it not illegal to have an 11 yr old playing u14s????

Yes i know its not illegal but i was only trying to explain how big and powerful this guy is.

I'm wondering how the cactlebar coach would like it if his kids had to play against this guy???????.. I was afraid some of our lads would get a serious injury.Thank god there were no 50/50 balls to be won with him !

[quote="buddyb"]GG , Sorry you missunderstood me , i was asking is it not illegal to play more than 2 yrs above your age, which has happened with this guy???
BB yes your right but this was community games so maybe doesnt count.

[quote="galwaygooner"]

buddyb wrote:

GG , Sorry you missunderstood me , i was asking is it not illegal to play more than 2 yrs above your age, which has happened with this guy??? BB yes your right but this was community games so maybe doesnt count.

I would say we are all in agreement with the above statements , however from now on ( me especially ) we should just stick to just calling the players " overage f*****rs , or else we will get dubbed with that awful word racist ( which I do not feel threatened by at all , but lets move on ) .
I have had a chat with 2 club managers of underage teams , who if opposed by a certain club who have a 17 / 18 year old playing 4/5 years below his own obvious age , are not going to play the same opposition . The manager first and foremost , is resposible for the safety and wellbeing of his players , in one instance last season he had two players carted off the pitch after collisions with the same "MAN ".
The stance these clubs are taking is drastic , but bloody well right . Lets all f***ing stop for a minute and see what is happening , the leagues being run by the Galway fa , are no longer in their hands as to who play in it ! What sort of piss pull are we being taking for !
No way will I put the blame on theobviously illegal players , it has to be placed on the pri**s playing them , I will not call them a manager or coach as they are nor never will be . For (one )they have no morals , (two) are cheats , ( three ) should not be left in charge of juveniles as they are a bad influence . Throw them out of soccer . Hey buddy can you put up a pol re this subjecy and tribesman 28 can you high light it in the paper ? If it was the other way around , the guy legal but not being played , it would be front page news , even a tv spot !

I met the young boy mentioned in the original post a few years ago when his older brother used to train with me. I was injured at the time and had a little kickaround and with the young lad. This was about four years ago and in my opinion he was definately only 7 years old if not younger. He was tiny. The growth spur he has had since then is the reason he looks older than he is. Around Mayo nobody is questioning his date of birth.

Whilst I don't doubt that there is some suspect players playing around the country, I don't think its fair to suspect this particular young lad without any proof or concrete evidence. He's also a very genuine lad so don't judge a book by its cover. Excellent football by the way.

Spoke to a few people that were at the game last night , purely accidental meeting , without bringing the match up ,it was the first subject mentioned . To say they were angry was an under statement , both were adamant the guy in question was "way" overage for this competition ! The whole episode was labelled a sick joke ! It also leads to repercussions down the road , while the winning team will go forward and play in the latter stages of the competitio , the losers on the other hand will remember for a long time how and who put them out of the competiton !
During the conversation , ways of how to combat this situation were thrown about , 2 lovly ones , no doubt talked about by all managers in relevant leagues , 1. "Take " the relevant offender out early in the game / get older lads to intimadate him before the game (2) Join them , as in play overage players as well ! In Galway soccer , Corofin ye have opened a large can of worms / rats !

As an advocate of Juvenile football and indeed being involved with u12s and u13s in my short stint as a manager , i find it quite sad the bad publicity and more importantly that lads as young as 11 yrs of age could possibly be driven from the game at such a tender age by the influx of man sized opponents who bully and dominate their games , when these lads are clearly even to an untrained eye, overage!!!!
As regards the remarks made to Tarob , i understand the frustration of opposing managers , but it wont solve the problem which will worsen with time . The fun element of the game for these kids has being taken away from them which will in turn drive them from the sport to the detriment of Junior teams and County teams in the future!!!

Quote:

Joe Wrote:y. The growth spur he has had since then is the reason he looks older than he is. Around Mayo nobody is questioning his date of birth.

Joe, with the greatest of respect and im speaking as somebody who has not seen this particular player but have seen players in clubs here in the same boat , but the million dollar question is "Would the People of Mayo question his date of birth if he was on the opposing team , i bet they would"
This problem , unless rectified does not argur well for the future of Juvenile football , as was said to Tarob "take him out " or "do as they do"
will only degrade what is supposed to be fun for kids.
My opinion is refuse to play these teams and if that is the only way they can win , be it on their conscience.................Their not worthy of being Managers or indeed involved in this beautiful game at any level especially at this level !!!!!
Heard a story that a lad appeared at Knocknacarra training few yrs ago and the manager being very dubious re his age ran him but he went cross town and joined another team with no questions asked. Fair play to Knocknacarra , but unless all clubs refuse his obvious age dispute , then we are piddling against the wind.............

What i find equally frustrating as these overage players, is Mervues lack of discipline as regards rule 28 in approaching players during the season whilst on County duty resulting in T.C being unable to field an u16 team this season as three of the best players have being induced into Mervue under a lot of the time , false promises.
The timing of the "inducement" in my mind is far worse than the problem of playing players whose DOB cant be checked or is stroked !!!
This Mervue squad have won nothing since u12s so it would appear desperation stakes are on the agenda.........
With these particular squads here is a run down of Cups won;
T.C u12s 0 Mervue 0
T.C U13s 4 TROPHIES (B league +Cup ) Mervue 0
Last 8 SFAI (BEATING Mervue 3-0)
T.C U14S 2 A League (winners) Mervue 0
Umbro Cup(winners)
T.C U15S 0 Mervue 0

What also surprises me is that the management of Mervue were also County management when obviously results above dont speak volumes for them?????
Well i will be rooting for Salthill this yr. and i hope Mervue keep up their consistency of recent yrs with their squad. With T.C , Renmore(for their own reasons) and possibly , according to rumour, Villa absent from u16s it wont take a lot of winning!!!!

WHY NOT GO FOR ABMUSD , IE ANY ONE BUT SALTHILL DEVON AND MERVUR UNITED ? JUST HEARD A RUMOUR LAST YEARS SALTHILL PREMIER TEAM MANAGER JIMMY NOLAN (GALWAY UNITED LEGEND )IS TO MANAGE KNOCKNACARRAS U 16 WITH COACHING BY JOHNNY "CEZH " AND JOHN CLARKE . THEY LOOKED VERY GOOD AT ONE STAGE LAST YEAR BUT SLIPPED UP ON THE VERY LAST DAY , THE BACKROOM TEAM SHOULD BEEF THEM UP A BIT !

Jesus your right sham , cant go for Mervue , Salthill or Corofin , so in that case im pitching my support with Knocknacarra ................

Lets call a spade a spade How come these lads who are causing the problems are black.I dont see to many of them that are farts.I'm sick of people saying that we're racist the minute we start asking questions.I've been called plenty of names in my time but I do'nt go running to the guards or the media and start moaning.These guys are breaking the rules and are cheats and someone needs to stop it.You ca'nt be six feet tall and have a body like a Russian weightlifter and play u-12 football.Come on ..STOP THE CHEATS!!

http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/12/74/69/86/p4050910.jpg

Lovely picture of Castlebar clubhouse seen recently in one of the papers..........

ffs under 11 thats a joke

Very easy to be good when your playing against lads of half your size isnt it ............

Quote:

Joe wrote: I was injured at the time and had a little kickaround and with the young lad. This was about four years ago and in my opinion he was definately only 7 years old if not younger. He was tiny. The growth spur he has had since then is the reason he looks older than he is. Around Mayo nobody is questioning his date of birth.

With the greatest of respect Joe their not questioning it because their turning a blind eye to it.............

The club was informed last week that Noe Baba has been called into the Irish U-14 squad for a challenge game against Derby County at the UL grounds, Limerick. The game is scheduled to take place on Monday 18th August. All at the club would like to congratulate Noe on this wonderful achievement

Noe Baba for his hat-trick on his BIRTHDAY.. Baba completed the scoring with his forth with ten minutes remaining

Four of the current squad ........ Noe Baba ......who will be underage again next year are going for their second gold medal

This guys birthday was last week,and if castlebar celtic are correct in saying he is under 12 again next year for community games then that makes him 11 years of age last week..WOW amazing the fai picked a 10 year old to play under 14..

THe above clips were taken of there site

BUT HE IS BIG FOR HIS AGE