Editor, RE: FERWAFA petitions CAF over Uganda’s use of ineligible player (The New Times, April 28, 2016). Would we really want to ‘win’ this way, having failed to do so on the field of play? As I see it, even if the concerned player, James Aheebwa, were to have been born on the earlier 1997 date rather than 1998, he would still be well within the under-20 age limit that qualifies him to participate in the tournament. Yes, FUFA, like FERWAFA in various previous instances, is seriously at fault for not being on top of its administrative duties related to players under its care. Yes, legally our football administrators would be well within their rights to demand the Junior Cranes’ disqualification for their Ugandan counterparts’ misadministration of their players’ identity details. Yes, I can imagine FERWAFA’s belief that this is only right after having themselves caused the Wasps’ disqualified for failing to notice that one of their players was plying his trade under two different identities, complete with different names and dates of birth, as an Rwandan national player and as a club player in the DR Congo. But ‘winning’ through the disqualification of a competing team that won regularly on the field, especially if the player concerned would still have qualified under the age limit rule, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. I for one very much want our teams to be winners, but not this way. Mwene Kalinda
