New Delhi: The All India Football Federation’s apparent approval of two players who have failed age-verification tests to continue playing in the ongoing sub-junior boys’ national championship for the prestigious BC Roy Trophy has led to its competitions committee chairperson offering to resign as a mark of protest.
On Tuesday, question marks were raised over presence of two players in the Delhi side that won 4-2 against Punjab at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Football Stadium.
The two players in question had earlier failed in their TW3 tests used for age verification, a mandatory criterion for participation in AIFF’s youth championships.
Rules suggest either these players clear their names in re-tests conducted at any AIFF-accredited medical lab or get chalked off from the Delhi team, but to the dismay of Punjab, they were in the substitutes bench and remained unused subs as Delhi won to march into the final.
When Punjab Football Association joint secretary Vijay Bali, who is also AIFF’s competitions committee chairperson, protested and sought clarification over their inclusion, they didn’t receive satisfactory response from the federation.
In disgust, Bali expressed willingness to resign from its executive committee and conveyed his decision in its internal Whatsapp group before exiting from it.
“Dear all, regret to inform all, I shall not be continuing as an EXCO member any more. Thank you Mr President for your understanding,” he wrote.
“Neither the deputy secretary (M Satyanarayan) nor the president (Kalyan Chaubey) could offer a proper reply when I asked why these players were allowed in the team sheet,” Bali told News9 Sports.
“Neither was this matter discussed in any of the AIFF sub-committees. Without approval, how could they have been allowed to play?”
The clandestine manner in which the matter has been handled forced Bali to lodge a protest through his resignation.
“I was told re-tests were done for these players before giving them permission. But no proof of that was put forward when I asked for it. Once you fail in TW3, you become ineligible automatically,” he said.
“As a member of the executive committee, transparency if the least we can demand but seems it is in short supply at AIFF currently.”
When asked to comment on the matter, a top AIFF official neither confirmed nor denied Bali’s resignation, preferring not to speak on the matter.
Sources within the AIFF claimed that one of the players in question is the son of a member of Parliament from a neighbourhood state of Delhi.
Curbing age-fraud
Age-fraud has been rampant and a recurring issue in the youth and junior level of Indian football over the years.
As per AIFF’s rules and regulations for the sub-junior boys’ Nationals, skeletal maturity rating for players born between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013, shouldn’t exceed the threshold of 13.9.
In case the limit exceeds following TW3 tests, then they are barred from participation, irrespective of their date of birth.
In recent years, AIFF has taken efforts to strictly enforce TW3 rules, with teams getting disqualified from past tournament over failed test results.
Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were disqualified from the sub-junior national championship in September 2024 after multiple players flunked the TW3 test.