Six teams taking part in the ongoing Lagos Junior League qualifiers have been fined N2.6 million for forgery and fielding 15 overage players, League Secretary, Taofeek Bello-Aromire has disclosed.

Bello-Aromire told newsmen that each club was fined N150,000 for featuring an ineligible player and another  and N20,000 for forging the league’s document to accommodate each of the ineligible players.

He said the clubs would also forfeit the points gained if they won their games with the ineligible players to their opponents.

The secretary said the decisions were taken by the league’s five-member Disciplinary Committee, led by Godson Uti, which met last week to discuss the issue.

He said the overaged players were discovered during the verification of accreditation cards at match venues and announced that the photographs of the affected players would be posted on the competition’s website.

“This will serve as a deterrent to other teams that are nursing the idea to perpetrate fraud by fielding ineligible players”.

“The measure is to also ensure that the integrity of the league is not compromised,” Bello-Aromire said.

He added that a letter of warning had been forwarded to the six affected clubs and the other teams involved in the qualifiers to ensure sanity in the league.

Tidesports source reports that the 20 local government councils and 37 development Council areas in the state are taking part in the qualifiers to determine the clubs that will feature in the Junior League, billed to kick off in March. 

The competition will be on break for Christmas and New Year from December 18 to January 8, 2011.