Bengaluru: The All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) last-minute move to enforce a 16.2 TW3 rating cut-off at the Junior Boys National Football Championship for the B C Roy Trophy ended up a non-starter.
The governing body was ultimately forced to clarify that the requirement would not be mandatory.
In a circular dated August 20, just five days before the tournament began in Bengaluru and Narainpur, the AIFF said players who had undergone or Tanner-Whitehouse 3 testing during earlier editions of the Sub-junior National Football Championship and AIFF Youth Leagues, and whose current TW3 rating was above 16.2, should not be included in their state teams. The responsibility of verifying the players’ TW3 status and eligibility was left to the respective state associations.
The timing, however, left several associations in a fix as most states had already selected their squads, completed their preparations and allocated budgets for the tournament. The directive meant some could potentially had to revisit their squads at the eleventh hour if players failed to meet the stipulated TW3 threshold.
It is learnt that such state units approached the AIFF seeking a rethink, following which the national body issued another communication clarifying that the TW3 test would not be mandatory.
The intent behind the move was never questionable, with the age fraud remaining a persistent concern in Indian youth sport. TW3 is a method of estimating skeletal maturity through X-rays of the hand and wrist. The Supreme Court has, in the context of juvenile cases, held that medical age estimation is approximate and cannot conclusively establish chronological age.
“We have nothing against the AIFF bringing in such a measure. But this should have been communicated much earlier. By the time the circular came, we had already selected our squad. If changes had to be made at that stage, it would have created a lot of logistical and financial difficulties for the teams,” a state federation official told DH on condition of anonymity.