Cheating players will not be punished: Tri

JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) will not sanction players found to be giving incorrect information about their ages when registering to compete in the Bogasari U-15 league, PSSI secretary-general Tri Goestoro said on Wednesday.

Their clubs will not be sanctioned either.

"The players have not played in the league, so we can't sanction them. However, if we find any players who intentionally falsified their ages, we'll sanction them immediately," he said.

Fourteen players were banned from competing in the league after they failed their medical checkups. They also could not produce their original birth certificates or diplomas to verify their ages.

Tri quoted chapter 52 of the association's general rules under which players proven to have falsified their ages are banned from competing for two years.

The chapter also rules that officials involving in the falsifying be suspended for three years. The club where the player is based when the case emerges is immediately disqualified from the tournament and is banned from competing in the next season.

Tri said PSSI was continuing its investigation into the matter.

"We want to know if the players do it on purpose or if it's just a matter of carelessness."

Tri said many players had failed to produce original birth certificates because their parents did not process them immediately after they were born.

"Particularly in the villages, it may take years before the parents register a birth. We call such a certificate (given upon registration) a birth recognition by the state.

"That's why so many of them failed the medical test (in which age was determined) even though their birth certificates indicated they were under 15-years old," he said.

The Bogasari league was inaugurated last Sunday. Teams are divided into four groups and the qualifying matches were held in North Sumatra's capital of Medan, Surabaya, Bandung and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan. (ivy)