Overage Player Farce - Is It Really For The Good of the Game?
by: AntoniodaSilva | Total views: 19 | Word Count: 550 | View PDF | Print View
The Beijing Olympics are now a month away including the Under 23's Olympic football tournament to be held at different venues in China. While many people may think otherwise, it is actually a tournament with a lot of history and with a lot of purpose. Firstly, what many people don't know is that the Olympic tournament was the first international football tournament, the World Cup was created afterwards and was largely the result of the success of this Olympic tournament. Secondly, the Olympic tournament provides teams (and fans alike) with a good indication as to how teams are shaping up for the next 2 World Cups.
The emergence of the World Cup in 1930 logically led to the decline of the Olympic tournament, not just in popularity but in prestige. FIFA's decision to limit the tournament to amateurs contributed to this decline, but at the same time, it had no choice since the prestige of its own World Cup had to be kept.
Nowadays, participating in the tournament is restricted to players under 23 years of age, and it perfectly complements FIFA's other youth tournaments are under 17 and 20 level. Nevertheless, FIFA also allows teams to field 3 overage players and which is almost always taken up. Such a rule is considered nonessential and actually against the purpose of the tournament by many, including myself.
I know people will have already started writing their responses to what I've just said, but before they press the "Enter" button, give me the opportunity to clarify my point and reasons behind this.
The rule was put into place at the same time as the under 23 rule in order to give all teams the chance to compete equally, as opposed to the previous rule where only amateurs could participate, and hence the true strength of the international game was not represented. However, this doesn?t address the merits of having overage players at the Olympics. What are the merits of letting teams have them?
If money talks, then the participation of overage players is justified. Such players tend to be well recognised professionals such as Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi and basically guarantee widespread coverage of the tournament, that it wouldn't get otherwise. Apart from the financial side of things, the presence of overage players gives a boost to young players to any team and this could be just what they need to become experienced and confident players. Both players and coaches certainly love the overage player rule.
However, increased coverage and pleasing national football coaches has taken precedence at FIFA when planning youth tournaments. It may be ridiculous to consider the Olympic tournament a youth tournament but when put aside the World Cup, it certainly does possess such characteristics.
All youth tournaments have the characteristic of being restricted to certain age groups meaning that participation in such tournaments is restricted to, in 99% of cases, to just one. As a result, players tend to only play at an Under 17 and 20 tournament once in their lives, making them more competitive rare occasions. All of which, fits in well with the spirit and purpose of football and sport in general. The Olympic Games is no different and giving players the chance to play there more than once is wrong, which is why the overage rule should be scrapped for good.
This Article was distributed by Inquire Into at www.inquireinto.com
About the Author
Author Antonio da Silva is one of the chief writers of SportsNewsFootball.com, a leading sports news football website renowned for its fearless and critical analysis of the major issues affecting the beloved game of football.
Rating: Not yet rated
