Apology over schoolgirls' football scandal

By Jane Chen | April 23, 2009, Thursday |

Online Edition

THE principal of a middle school in Chongqing Municipality has apologized this morning for an international cheating scandal involving its schoolgirls' football team.

The team won an international school football championship earlier this month but its team was made up mostly of players who did not attend the school.

This was against the rules, Zhang Jianling, the principal of Daping Middle School, admitted in the apology.

The local education authority has given a demerit punishment to Zhang, according to Zhao Yuanzhen, the dean of the Yuzhong District Education Commission.

Only three of the 18 players in the squad were from Daping Middle School. The other 15 were national youth representatives from across the country, Zhang admitted.

"The cheating has marred the reputation of Chongqing and China," he said.

The school had not notified the local education authority about the composition of the team before sending it to Turkey for the game, he added.

Previous media reports said the Chongqing city government had asked the school to explain the issue to the organizer and return the championship cup.

The scandal came to light after a media report revealed the school had drafted professional players from the Chinese Women's Youth National Football Team to its schoolgirls' team to compete in the World Schools Football Championship 2009 in Antalya, Turkey.

The school, which came sixth at last year's middle school girls football championships in China, grabbed the opportunity to represent China in the international event after the first five schools said they could not afford to attend.

Eager to win, the school contacted the national youth team to ask it to help, according to the Daping team coach Li Weiping.

The national team agreed to help, regarding it as a good chance to have top-level competition. The school promised to cover any expenses.

The team was victorious and took the championship in the final on April 12 by beating Germany 8-6.

According to the rules published on the Website of the organizer International Schoolsport Federation, all players in the team should be enrolled as full-time students at the school they represent.

Nation

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Apology over schoolgirls' football scandal

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