Hedo's real age

[BMP 424]

I have to correct something before it is taken the wrong way. By saying not occuring in USA I mean that I am sure there are a lot of European players who are actually not listed at their real age. In a lot of countries where Basketball and Football is nearly a religion to them, I can see the governments changing players ages so they can compete in junior competition. So in a under 20's competition there may actually be players that are 23 and more developed physically and skillfully. The countries would find this attractive and I can not see anything that would stop them from doing it.

Racist!!!

 

I truly believe that there would be a few cases in Basketball but even more in Football. The article about that bucks player is a perfect piece of writing that has great supporting evidence as well.

 

I'm willing to bet Greg Oden is at least 53 years old. Until I see his real birth certificate, nothing is going to change my mind.

[richnba 3]

The truth of the matter is this is the same Turk of the last two seasons, the only difference is the Magic thought they could change him. Otis may a calculated risk that he coucld get hedo back to where he was and it back fired, Hedo is not a great player anymore. And I am willinig to bet there isnt one team out therre dumb enough to take his contract, same with Gilbert Arenas. Otis believes the Magic can change these guys, when the fact is they are the same players we all knew they were.

[KandiKane 136]

Racist!!!

 

 

 

I'm willing to bet Greg Oden is at least 53 years old. Until I see his real birth certificate, nothing is going to change my mind.

 

How could you trust that Greg Oden would show you his real birth certificate, you can't trust his kind. Tall people should never be trusted.

[Babir_9 91]

Would you please be so kind and name a few players from Latin America that have lied about their age? I honestly haven't heard this is very common down there

 

Are you trying to say that everything is so legal in Latin American soccer? :) Watch "The two Escobars" documentary, you will learn a lot ;)

 

In most of the countries in Latin America corruption is too high, you can buy and sell whatever you want. At the same time there are thousands soccer players from Brazil, Argentina and other latin american countries all over the world, don't you think that their agents, coaches are not trying to impress their clients with "young" phenomenon players, so they could get a better deals? come on, how old are you? 6 or 7? ;)

[Emory889 353]

Would you please be so kind and name a few players from Latin America that have lied about their age? I honestly haven't heard this is very common down there.

 

I hear it's a fairly common practice in baseball.

[COLOMBIANO 118]

Are you trying to say that everything is so legal in Latin American soccer? :) Watch "The two Escobars" documentary, you will learn a lot ;)

 

In most of the countries in Latin America corruption is too high, you can buy and sell whatever you want. At the same time there are thousands soccer players from Brazil, Argentina and other latin american countries all over the world, don't you think that their agents, coaches are not trying to impress their clients with "young" phenomenon players, so they could get a better deals? come on, how old are you? 6 or 7? ;)

 

Latin America is very corrupted and corruption in soccer is pretty huge, but we're not talking about corruption in general, we are talking about age corruption in sports and to be honest, I have not heard of many cases lately in soccer, so please spare me a few.

 

Also, The two Escobars talk about a different corruption, so there is no point of bringing that up. I'm Colombian...I know how corrupted my country is!

 

Emory889 - Yes, I've heard of a lot of cases in Baseball was well.

[Emory889 353]

I've also heard of Chinese officials fudging the ages of their athletes both in amateur competitions like the Olympics and there was a lot of debate on exactly how old Yi Jianlian was when he was being drafted. This kind of stuff does happen. I really don't think this is an issue with Turk though. The simple fact is that an athlete has to really take care of himself to prolong his career into his 30s and Turk has been notorious for his lifestyle. His game was showing signs of slipping towards the end of his first stint with the Magic. None of us should be surprised that his game has fallen off of a cliff 2 years later.

[COLOMBIANO 118]

I've also heard of Chinese officials fudging the ages of their athletes both in amateur competitions like the Olympics and there was a lot of debate on exactly how old Yi Jianlian was when he was being drafted. This kind of stuff does happen. I really don't think this is an issue with Turk though. The simple fact is that an athlete has to really take care of himself to prolong his career into his 30s and Turk has been notorious for his lifestyle. His game was showing signs of slipping towards the end of his first stint with the Magic. None of us should be surprised that his game has fallen off of a cliff 2 years later.

 

I've heard of that as well. In fact, I think it happened in the last olympic games.

 

I do know this happens pretty much all over the world. In my country for example, you just pay the right people and you can get anything you want...from a Masters degree to a new passport with a fake name.

 

All I was asking for was a few names from soccer players in South America. I follow soccer all over the world and I honestly haven't heard that's been an issue. There is corruption still with teams paying refs to go in their favor...recent example was the Juventus from Italy, Milan and some other team I can't remember right now. This practive was also very used in Colombia a few years ago, but I think it's gotten better.

[Zara 74]

Would you please be so kind and name a few players from Latin America that have lied about their age? I honestly haven't heard this is very common down there.

 

Hey man, sorry i didn't follow up the thread sooner :)

 

As you can note, i am referring to the practice of "players showing up from nowhere with their agents" and putting forth paperwork backing up a number of different things. It's not always an age issue (though it understandably helps an unknown player to be a "young player"). You get forged documentation regarding country of origin, previous teams, previous contracts, whatever. It's quite common, yet naturally not as much in major leagues and with major teams (ie the likes of AC Milan are able -and most of the times bother- to get good visibility on what they sign) but in the minor European leagues, the balkan countries, and the sorts.

 

There's an awful lot of guys named "Garcia", and not too many league-2 team owners are gonna argue with their passport saying they're 19, should they be kicking the ball well enough.

 

I'm pretty sure you know what i mean :cheers:

[COLOMBIANO 118]

Hey man, sorry i didn't follow up the thread sooner :)

 

As you can note, i am referring to the practice of "players showing up from nowhere with their agents" and putting forth paperwork backing up a number of different things. It's not always an age issue (though it understandably helps an unknown player to be a "young player"). You get forged documentation regarding country of origin, previous teams, previous contracts, whatever. It's quite common, yet naturally not as much in major leagues and with major teams (ie the likes of AC Milan are able -and most of the times bother- to get good visibility on what they sign) but in the minor European leagues, the balkan countries, and the sorts.

 

There's an awful lot of guys named "Garcia", and not too many league-2 team owners are gonna argue with their passport saying they're 19, should they be kicking the ball well enough.

 

I'm pretty sure you know what i mean :cheers:

 

I’ve heard of a few national teams who have changed the age of a few players so they can participate with their young national teams in important tournaments. I’ve also heard of fake Visas, so players can go play in another country, but what’s the point of forging other documents? What else can be forged?

 

I heard that lying about the age used to be pretty common, but due to harsh penalties the issue seems to be fixed…at least in soccer.

[Zara 74]

Well you have a guy named Ruiz who's 20 years old, agent-less, and has a dead-end contract paying pennies with a club in Category 2 Chile.

 

A Peruvian fat guy with sunglasses knows an Albanian fat guy with sunglasses who knows a rather overweight Romanian club owner who would gladly pay something around $10,000 to get a player that can do more than a sliding tackle.

 

The player can be shipped overseas as an under-19 prospect with no contractual obligations and carry on his dribbling for double the pennies and hopes for European soccer limelight (meh, but he watched "GOAL" or whateve when he was 15 and actually bought it...)

 

It's not like a world-class conspiracy (like Hedo's age :D), but a little money makes it happen.

[Babir_9 91]

Soccer. More than 1,000 soccer players are being investigated for holding false passports that enable them to play as "Europeans" on soccer teams. National rules restrict the number of non-EU foreigners on each team. For example, Italy allows only five players from outside the EU on any Italian team, and only three non-EU players can be on the field at one time.

 

The "Bosman ruling" forced national teams to end their restrictions on players from outside the country, but inside the EU, which led to some, for instance, English teams, to have no British players. In an effort to get around the restrictions, many Italian and Spanish clubs sign South American players and give them Italian and Spanish passports, enabling them to play as national players.

 

On February 15, a soccer agent, Alfonso Martins Costa Filho, told a Brazilian congressional commission that two Portuguese officials gave Portuguese passports to two Brazilian players so that they could play on an Italian club in 2000. The congressional commission is one of two set up to investigate alleged corruption and mismanagement of Brazilian soccer.

 

French police and immigration officials, at the request of the French soccer league, launched an investigation into the French passports issued to French first and second division players. Each French club is allowed only three non-EU players, a rule that was violated by a club with a Ukrainian playing under a Greek passport and a Brazilian player with a Portuguese passport.

 

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2326_0_4_0

 

South America produces such good soccer players that they have become a valuable export commodity. Since the European federation has rules about the number of non-Europeans who can play in European teams, false passports provide a solution. In France this has become a major political issue. Presumably teams which thus recruit a star player provoke other teams owners into making a political issue of this. Presumably the players with false passports will be forced to abandon the game, involving the clubs which purchased them in heavy financial losses. Soccer is politics and business by other means.

 

http://wais.stanford.edu/Sports/sports_laandsoccer11101.html