Is this true?

[mozgrame]

A former player at club, State and Country level who is still very involved in the game ( I won't name him, but you'd be pretty thick to not be able to guess ) told me the other day that it is common knowledge in footy circles about players age differences in school boy footy. He says it is a misconception that the Poly/Islander background players are just naturally bigger than other kids, but did agree with me that at adult age they are big people.

He says that although school boy footy is governed by age rating or date of birth, a lot of Poly/Islander kids (and not all mind you) are actually a few years older than what their age bracket would have us believe. These "kids" are not actually put into an age bracket based on their birth certificate, but by the date of their Christening. If they are not Christened until the age of three or four, they can then enter an under 16s team and be pushing 20! They could therefore be playing under 20s, and be in their early 20s already.

This is all apparentley under the heading of "Give the poor buggers a chance to build a good life" through footy. Don't get me wrong here, I am always willing to give anyone a hand in life, and yes it has bitten me hard more than once. What i'm more interested in is, is this true?

Not that any of us will have definite proof either way I guess. I just wonder if anyone else has heard this. The source i got it from is always on the money and doesn't bull**** for the sake of it. I find it interesting to say the least.

 

[Hamster Huey]

It is a real problem, especially with the kids that immigrate over at a young age. They can easily be 2-3 years off their real age.

The parents are happy to do it to press their kids chances to make a footy career and bring money into the family.

 

[Frogz]

95 kg 14 year olds ...Its a huge problem (pardon the pun)...but alot of kids drop out as they just cany handle it....

 

[Volley]

I must be pretty thick, because that former club, State and International player who is still involved in the game could be absolutely anyone.

 

[twitchk]

It's not just rugby league that this is an issue in. I know that this is an issue in golf aswell with the Asian population. As you say not ALL of them do it but I remember playing in a golf tournament in the 14 age group and I was playing with a 6'2 guy with a full beard, and he was biiiig!
I also caddied in a ladies professional competition and it just seemed like common knowledge about the people who would do it.

 

[jbb/james]

there are plenty of islander kids at the primary school my son attends that are 90 kg plus before year 6. A few are bigger than me

 

[globaleagle]

Law and order did an episode about this with baseball players.

So there.

bing bing

 

[mozgrame]

I must be pretty thick, because that former club, State and International player who is still involved in the game could be absolutely anyone.

Agreed. Let's keep it at that.

 

[Peter C]

I must be pretty thick, because that former club, State and International player who is still involved in the game could be absolutely anyone.

Me too, I have no idea, some initials might narrow it down a bit.
Anyway this news is hardly surprising, we've suspected this all along.

 

[lloydy]

Was it Andrew Ettingshausen?

---

I used to play against a Tongan lad in under 14's who had grey hair.

 

[Haz88]

Yep this is true. If your involved in local footy circles etc you would hear about it alot. It isnt just footy though its common in alot of areas

back in high school we had an under 16 game and we were string beans came up against a side who were easily over 6 foot and solid , had beards and drove to the game! It was not a good ending lol

 

[The Who]

This has been an issue for the past 20 years. I had some success raising the issue in the media through Roy Masters and John Gibbs with Martin Meredith supporting the push for weight-for-age comps. But the solution is a little more complicated, because you don't want old, but small kids, playing against youngsters.

 

[The Wheel]

Go and try and find birth certificates in Tonga, I have a friend heavily involved in the communtiy (married to a Tongan lady) and he states that their are basically no records of births over there.

 

[Haz88]

Go and try and find birth certificates in Tonga, I have a friend heavily involved in the communtiy (married to a Tongan lady) and he states that their are basically no records of births over there.

That is what I use to hear as the reason behind it also , just never knew if that was the case or not. Cheers for the info

 

[mozgrame]

Could explain why T-Rex sometimes played like he was about 50 years old. Maybe he is!
And perhaps Nood is only 25??

 

[eagleE]

Go and try and find birth certificates in Tonga, I have a friend heavily involved in the communtiy (married to a Tongan lady) and he states that their are basically no records of births over there.

Births are known by any other circumstances but not date. They are remembered by the "great floods" or by the "really dry summer" or by the "time of kings death". Then years later and someone says you look "about 12" and trying to be nice when they are really 16. Kids are always going to find a way to play in a younger age group.

BTW you don't have to say who it is. But can answer truthfully to my guessing with a yes or no answer.
Is it Asotasi
Is it FuiFui
Is it Kite
Is if Vagana
This way you are not giving the person up.

 

[Volley]

It couldn't be any of those players.

Asotasi, Fui Fui and Vagana have never played State of Origin, while Asotasi, Fui Fui and Kite are all still playing.

Greg Alexander, Geoff Toovey, Rick Stuart, Mal Meninga, Darren Lockyer, Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Wally Lewis, Gordon Tallis, Brett Kimmorley, Mark Gasnier, Des Hasler, Noel Cleal, Matthew Johns & Jim Dymock are all possibilites. There are a lot more out there.

 

[beardie]

Don't think that all big kids are older though. I'm caucasian and I stoppped growing at 14 years of age at 6'3". My eldest son (also caucasian) also stopped at 14 yo at 6"4". I remember when he played under 12 soccer and he was twice the height of some kids. It's just natural that some kids are bigger than others at the same age.