The Medical Committee of the AFC, in collaboration with the Football Association of Thailand and Bangkok Hospital, organized a training on MRI result reading for the wrist bones, for radiologists from ASEAN and East Asian countries, totalling 16 participants, and for Thai radiologists, numbering 6 participants, to enhance knowledge and skills in MRI result interpretation, for the benefit of each country in preventing or detecting age fraud among football players under 16 years old.
On September 19, 2014, at the Rungsuntham Ladplee Meeting Room, 8th Floor, BGH Building, Bangkok Hospital, the AFC, led by Mr. Gurucharan Singh, the Chairman of the AFC Medical Committee, together with Rear Admiral (Special) Dr. Paisarn Jantarapitak, the AFC Medical Committee and the president of the Medical Committee of the Football Association of Thailand, and Bangkok Hospital, conducted a seminar on MRI technology for detecting age fraud in athletes using magnetic resonance. Sunthorn Mee-suwan, the chairman of the youth football development for players aged 12-14 and “Big Piak”, Dr. Ong-Arj Kosinkar, the Chairman of the Thai Premier League, participated, along with doctors from ASEAN, East Asia, and Thailand, making a total of 22 participants.
The International Football Federation, or FIFA, has a policy to promote and support the global spread of football competitions. However, during these competitions, there have been suspicions about the age accuracy of football players, whether it matches the set criteria or not. This issue has led some countries to deploy older players in competitions to gain a physiological advantage. To ensure transparency and fairness in competitions, modern technology like MRI machines, which use electromagnetic waves, has been introduced to assist in verifying the ages of competitors.
Rear Admiral (Special) Dr. Paisarn Jantarapitak, the president of the Medical Committee of the Football Association of Thailand, commented on this training session, “The AFC or Asian Football Confederation has organized football competitions for boys and girls under 16, to select teams for the Under 17 World Cup. In the past, the only required evidence to confirm a football player’s age was their passport, by looking at the date of birth. Later, the inclusion of a birth certificate became necessary. Asking for a certification from the school where the football player is studying was added, although all these documents are man-made and have been altered and deviated from the truth. Moreover, it was found that many countries in Asia and Africa do not have an official birth registration or birth certificate as a mandatory legal requirement,” he said.
The president of the Medical Committee of the Football Association of Thailand also added, “Later, x-ray examinations were conducted at the wrist, which required football players to be unnecessarily exposed to x-rays, contradicting the International Atomic Energy Agency’s regulations for protecting ordinary individuals, like football players, who are not patients, from x-ray exposure due to non-medical reasons. Currently, it has been legally resolved not to allow this method for detecting age fraud in athletes anymore. Research has found that the closure of growth plates in the wrist occurs on average at the age of 18 years and 4 months. Therefore, if it is found that the growth plate in the wrist of a football player under 17 has closed, it can be conclusively said that the person is definitely over 17 years old. For this reason, FIFA has introduced the use of MRI, a machine that employs electromagnetic waves, as a substitute for x-rays,” he explained.
The Medical Committee of the AFC, in collaboration with the Football Association of Thailand and Bangkok Hospital, organized the training on MRI result reading for the wrist bones for the radiologists from ASEAN and East Asia, totalling 16 participants, and for Thai radiologists, numbering 6 participants, to enhance knowledge and skills in MRI result interpretation. This training, meant for the prevention or detection of age fraud among football players under 16, was held for the 3rd time in Thailand, with previous sessions in Jordan and Sri Lanka.
Source: Siam Sport
