Taribo West actually 50?

pickarooney

Surely there is no way that this is true? Zecevic doesn't seem to offer any indication as to how they found out he was 12 years older than he claimed. Nuts if it is true.

dan1895

Do players from any other continent have their age questioned? Remember Roger Milla?

Turtyturd

Makes his hair even worse.....at that age he definitely should have known better.

ionadnapokot

He has had some life.
I would love if he was 50:)


http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2002/may/12/worldcupfootball2002.sport

bullvine

This has long been rumored, I remember reading an article I think from the Guardian, I will try and find it. It basically said a lot of the golden era had lied about their age, hence their dominance of underage football but that's why they could never repeat it at World Cups because they were already at the height of their maturity.

here is the link below

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/21/nigerian-football-age-old-problem

super_furry

As I remember it, the questions over his age are the reason Liverpool pulled out of a deal to sign him in 99.

edgecutter

Aren't there questions about kanu's aga as well?

Owen_S

edgecutter wrote: »

Aren't there questions about kanu's aga as well?

Yeah along with many other Nigerian players, there were even rumours about Victor Moses.

MD1990

African players DOB can often be sketchy
id wonder is Lukaku really 19 too tbh

carlop

He could be a 100 and he would still be a legend purely for being the linchpin of my defence in countless leagues in CM 01/02. Greatest free transfer of all time.

Meglamonia

Yeah wouldn't be surprised if Moses is 28-29,head on him :P

LiamoSail

There should be an app with the conversion rate of Nigerian footballer years to real years

Julez

edgecutter wrote: »

Aren't there questions about kanu's aga as well?

206 apparently... definitely raises a few eyebrows... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nwankwo_Kanu

tvercetti

According to FIFA, ex-United youngster Souleymane Mamam played a WC qualifier for Togo when he was 13. Although he was 15 according to other sources.

And Newcastle bought Obafemi Martins at a cutprice with doubts about his actual age. Hes still only 28 now but could be 6/7 year discrepency.

Heard similar about Jay-Jay Okocha

Bertser

MD1990 wrote: »

African players DOB can often be sketchy
id wonder is Lukaku really 19 too tbh

He was born and raised in Belgium so I'm sure there's sufficient proof that he is 19.

I'm not sure what to make of this whole situation with West, Kanu, Martins, etc, the claim that they only dominated youth tournaments because they were actually all much older is interesting, but we did quite well in them in the 90s but achieved nothing. It's hard for me to believe that Kanu could impress like he did when he came to Arsenal originally if he was 33/34.

Fizman

carlop wrote: »

He could be a 100 and he would still be a legend purely for being the linchpin of my defence in countless leagues in CM 01/02. Greatest free transfer of all time.

My sentiments exactly. Very solid and versatile 'LCB'.

LuckyLloyd

Would make more sense of his general career trajectory.

Moneymaker

He'll be togging out along with Oba Martins for Nigeria Over 50s so.

GavRedKing

few years back Moyes said about Yakubu after he scored a hat-trick.

"He's only 25, albeit a Nigerian 25, and so if that is his age he's still got a good few years ahead of him."

Excellent, he later said it was taking out of context and was meant to be light hearted.

ionadnapokot

it was a brilliant 1996 olympic team. Technically Nigeria only had 2 overage players in the squad. Jay Jay, Kanu, and West were underage;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men's_team_squads#Nigeria

There was some serious squads at that tournament: Argentina, Brazil, Italy and France (3 world cup winners in 98)

death1234567

Alot of teams now look for bone marrow tests for players of African origin as alot of them don't know their DOB and just make up one that's helpful for them,( i.e. take a few years off).

Alpha Dog 1

There's been doubts expressed about a number of players.
I always had doubts About balotelli.

GavRedKing

Alpha Dog 1 wrote: »

There's been doubts expressed about a number of players.
I always had doubts About balotelli.

Was he not born in Italy to Ghanaian parents?

I remember when Micah Richards at 16/17 looked about 25, he was a beast.

Jay Spearing is only 8

PhlegmyMoses

Sure the Nigerian team removed 15 players from their squad for the 2009 FIFA U17 World Cup when they were told by FIFA that wrist resonance scans would be performed on all their players. They did their own tests and omitted their players without giving any reason as to why. I doubt that any of the players are 10 years older but they may be 2,3,4 years older, which would give them a better chance of securing European deals.

Seaneh

Alpha Dog 1 wrote: »

There's been doubts expressed about a number of players.
I always had doubts About balotelli.

No you haven't, that's absolute nonsense.
He was born in Palermo and never lived outside of Italy until he joined City.

He's also grown almost 2 inches and gained significant muscle mass since his debut for Inter 5 years ago aged 17 years and 3 months.


I've seen the same nonsense said on here about Lukaku, who was born in Belgium.

764dak

You know it's pretty simple to admit that Africans are great at the youth level than making up rubbish excuses about age.

dreamers75

764dak wrote: »

You know it's pretty simple to admit that Africans are great at the youth level than making up rubbish excuses about age.

So why are they tested then?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8323257.stm

It does happen.

Danye

death1234567 wrote: »

Alot of teams now look for bone marrow tests for players of African origin as alot of them don't know their DOB and just make up one that's helpful for them,( i.e. take a few years off).

Heard from a couple lads involved with academies in England that this is rife.

Apparently..

People arrive in the country without any documentation and no birth certs for their kids. They then say the kids are actually younger than they are so they can claim any child benefits for an extra few years than they would actually be entitled to if correct age was provided.

This was one of the reasons how lads playing for academies seemed a lot more physically developed than than the lads they were playing with or against.

This isn't my view and I'm not making any accusations but that's what I was told from a few people.

~Rebel~

Jesus, from the direction this thread was taking for a while I was half expecting someone to question John Barnes real age!


More on the original topic, Julius Aghahowa is one who almost certainly falsified his age. Really explains the trajectory of his ability - outstanding around 2002, when apparently only 20, dropped off sharply over the following years.

Loved watching him in the youth teams and when he got his senior call up though.

I once met a Nigerian chap in Prague who was telling me he was from the same area as Julius, and that before he ever started his footballing career, he was a police officer for years, in his mid 20's.

Might be some truth to this, given that his first team officially was actually a local police team, when he should have only been 13 or 14

764dak

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Jesus, from the direction this thread was taking for a while I was half expecting someone to question John Barnes real age!


More on the original topic, Julius Aghahowa is one who almost certainly falsified his age. Really explains the trajectory of his ability - outstanding around 2002, when apparently only 20, dropped off sharply over the following years.

Loved watching him in the youth teams and when he got his senior call up though.

I once met a Nigerian chap in Prague who was telling me he was from the same area as Julius, and that before he ever started his footballing career, he was a police officer for years, in his mid 20's.

Might be some truth to this, given that his first team officially was actually a local police team, when he should have only been 13 or 14

Julius Aghahowa: "No, that's not true. What actually happened was that, before joining Insurance FC, I played briefly for the Police Machine team. When I moved to Insurance, the fans, not knowing my name, started to call me a policeman. that was all it was. I was never a cop."

~Rebel~

764dak wrote: »

Julius Aghahowa: "No, that's not true. What actually happened was that, before joining Insurance FC, I played briefly for the Police Machine team. When I moved to Insurance, the fans, not knowing my name, started to call me a policeman. that was all it was. I was never a cop."

Obviously we have no idea of the truth as with Jay-Jay, West and the others, but anyone who is falsifying details about their age will, well, falsify details about their age.

The various aspects of Aghahowa's career make him a more likely suspect than most. Even aside from everything else, he should in theory only just have turned 31, but has vastly declined over the last 8 years.

inforfun

That age thing has been hanging over African countries for a long time already.
There was a time that the likes of Ghana did do very well in the under-17/19/21 etc tournaments, sometimes winning it. And then at the real world cups, they never fail to disappoint.

Than there was a certain Anthony Yeboah who, while playing for Eintracht Frankfurt went on holidays to Ghana during the summer and came back 4 years younger. And with malaria.

But then again, when i was playing myself at around 15 yeras of age, i had a guy in my team who was as Dutch as the come and he was sporting a beard at age 15 most grown up men cant even get close to. Opponents always thought we had a parent playing in the team.

death1234567

inforfun wrote: »

went on holidays to Ghana during the summer and came back 4 years younger. And with malaria.

To be fair that could happen to anyone. :pac:

iregk

MD1990 wrote: »

African players DOB can often be sketchy
id wonder is Lukaku really 19 too tbh

I take it we're going with the every black player is African, or every black player's age is suspicious? You do realise Lukaku was born and raised in Belguim?

Rekop dog

I'm going to draw a shocking conclusion here, could it be that some black people may just look older than they actually are and aren't all part of some shady covert scam.

inforfun

death1234567 wrote: »

To be fair that could happen to anyone. :pac:

You might have had great holidays and FEEL 4 years younger, yes.
Just takes 1 day in work and that feeling is gone though.

For malaria you should take precautions, certainly as a professional football player who goes back to a region known for malaria risk.

Seaneh

inforfun wrote: »

You might have had great holidays and FEEL 4 years younger, yes.
Just takes 1 day in work and that feeling is gone though.

For malaria you should take precautions, certainly as a professional football player who goes back to a region known for malaria risk.

you can take anti-malarials your whole life and still contract malaria. its not possible to protect yourself 100%.

he could have already had malaria and it just flared up when he went home.

godtabh

When I played undertake (particularly up to under 12) I would get reported each week as a banger. At that age there was 3 off us not to far off 5'10'' and massive. We had a great midfield and defense. We should have won more games but couldnt score and our goalie was muck.

So as has been said here before you can look older than you actually are.

When Martins was at Inter there were lots and lots of rumors about him but at the end of the day they were just rumors.

elefant

Found a pretty hilarious thread on the Nigerian boards.ie today about this:

http://www.nairaland.com/55467/nigerian-football-players-real-ages

:pac:

bullvine

We'll know if its the case when they all start dying of old age in their 50's

jordainius

I find it hard to believe any of this, seems unlikely to me that a player could start playing top level football in his mid to late twenties and have a decent career.

Rikand

I think we've all learned a valuable lesson from all of this.

Lukaku was definitely born in Belgium

eagle eye

If Taribo West is 50 it means he reached his peak somewhere between the age of 32 and 36. I would find it a lot harder to believe that.

iregk

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

I think we've all learned a valuable lesson from all of this.

Lukaku was definitely born in Belgium

That's what you took out of it? Personally I got that you can take malaria tablets all your life yet still contract it!

CSF

The Lukaku and Balotelli accusations are so racist it's unbelievable. No longer do you just have to play for a nation whose federation have a history about faking ages, now just being black and physical makes you 40. Ridiculous.

Dempsey

CSF wrote: »

The Lukaku and Balotelli accusations are so racist it's unbelievable. No longer do you just have to play for a nation whose federation have a history about faking ages, now just being black and physical makes you 40. Ridiculous.

Racist?? LOL

I think the word you were looking for is stereotyping.

You had a little overreaction because the players in question are black. :rolleyes:

CSF

Dempsey wrote: »

Racist?? LOL

I think the word you were looking for is stereotyping.

You had a little overreaction because the players in question are black. :rolleyes:

These people don't have enough in common for it to be considered merely stereotyping. They're not from the same country or anything like that, they're just the same colour. That is all they have in common, as much as I do with someone from Ukraine.

I don't think it is an overreaction, its no coincidence that its because the players in question are black, when you consider that the only reason these 2 lads have been accused of fraud, is because they are black. Balotelli is born and bred Italian, Lukaku is born and bred Belgian. They've always been under the Italian and Belgian footballing federations who have no history of lying about players' ages. The only reason they are being accused is because they're black.

klose

iregk wrote: »

You do realise Lukaku was born and raised in Belguim?

On the playground is where he spent most of his days...

Dempsey

CSF wrote: »

These people don't have enough in common for it to be considered merely stereotyping. They're not from the same country or anything like that, they're just the same colour. That is all they have in common, as much as I do with someone from Ukraine.

I don't think it is an overreaction, its no coincidence that its because the players in question are black, when you consider that the only reason these 2 lads have been accused of fraud, is because they are black. Balotelli is born and bred Italian, Lukaku is born and bred Belgian. They've always been under the Italian and Belgian footballing federations who have no history of lying about players' ages. The only reason they are being accused is because they're black.

No its because their birth parents are from Africa, they are not 3rd or 4th generation immigrants or anything like that. Maybe its ignorance that people didnt know they were actually born and bred in the EU and not just immigrated to European countries some other african born players in the EU.

Mr Whirly

Dempsey wrote: »

No its because their birth parents are from Africa, they are not 3rd or 4th generation immigrants or anything like that. Maybe its ignorance that people didnt know they were actually born and bred in the EU and not just immigrated to European countries some other african born players in the EU.

They are all from West Africa or West African decent funnily enough. I don't see anyone levelling accusations at Fellaini who is 25 but looks 45. But being of North African decent he must be less African than the rest of the lads. It's a touch racist in fairness.