Association adopts ‘no school, no football’ system

The Greater Accra Regional Football Association (GARFA) has decided to adopt a “no school, no football” policy as it begins registration of players for the juvenile league later this month.

It will ensure that only schoolage footballers are registered and allowed to participate in the regional juvenile league, with the doors shut on talented players not in school.

The proposal, which must be approved by the Ghana Football Association (GFA), was agreed upon at a juvenile football stakeholders meeting held last Tuesday at the Kaneshie Sports Complex.

Over 30 participants, including GARFA chairman, Nii Komiete Doku, Juvenile Committee chairman, Michael Fiaduse, and club representatives at the meeting, resolved that it was time for the old system of registering players by their weight to be replaced by the new “school system”.

The GARFA chairman explained that the school system expected every young footballer under the age of 15 to be in school and the age used for the registration must be confirmed by their school heads.

He added that the new registration format would help eradicate age-cheating because all pupils were enrolled in school with either their weighing cards or birth certificates, which have their confirmed ages.