Lagos — It is the high season for football and the excitement of fans across the globe is at fever-pitch. The passion and adrenaline is flowing ceaselessly. Several World Cup qualifier matches are on and fans have been held spellbound as to who's in and who's out.

In some cases the zealousness has manifested into bloodshed. The Algerian players were pelted with stones on the moment they landed in Cairo, Egypt for a match. Dripping with blood they defiantly stayed on to play. A couple of friendly games have been played as well. The run up to the 2010 World Cup has kept the football pundits very busy.

Not surprising Nigeria is also on a high. As the host of the just-concluded U-17 FIFA World Cup, matches were played around the nation and places such as Ijebu-Ode, Enugu, Calabar and Kano are now on the map of football.

The entire competition has however been blighted by the charges that the nation's football authorities fielded over-aged players. For many years, Nigeria has been struggling to shed its image of corruption and fraudulent acts. And now this! According to one newspaper report FIFA referred to us as: "a nest of cheats".

Beyond that label the other sad thing about all of this is that people who should know better have criticised the whistle-blower, Mr. Adokiye Amiesimaka for being "unpatriotic". A patriot is someone who has "great loves his/her country". If we truly love our country we must earnestly seek to right the wrongs. Corrupt practices should be eradicated - root and branch - across all sectors. If anyone is being unpatriotic in this whole mess, it is those calling for the head of Mr. Amiesimaka over his very timely revelation. Why should the man be pilloried for drawing our attention to a discrepancy in the age group football competition? I believe that he has performed an act of patriotism. On the contrary it is the administrators of football that should be held in contempt.

Dishonesty about over-aged players must be seen as what is: Dishonest and disreputable! Just where do we draw the line between the truth and falsehood? Does passion for football have to blind and becloud our sense of truth, honesty and fair-play to the point that we are asked to condone and completely overlook a pack of lies.

Others went as far to say that if we got disqualified on the basis of our players lying about their ages it could be seen as an act of sabotage! Could this be a reflection of the bigger problem we have with bribery and corruption? Apart from casting doubt on the integrity of the nation, such acts deprive players with the right age the opportunity of putting their training and talents to the test in an international tournament.

Let us switch to a different sport for a moment. Well-loved lawn tennis player, Andre Agassi came out to tell the world that he lied about his use of recreational drugs. In an interview he said his decision to come out was to teach his children how to handle the truth. Marion Jones the one - time Olympic medalist also came out to tell the world that she had cheated during her time in the field of athletics.

Several others have admitted cheating and sought to use their experiences to discourage cheating in sports. Even the Formula One series has had its moment of truth.

Typically the Nigerian Football Federation which has already been mired in scandals over the years has come out with feeble displays of sentimental defence. Their main plank of defence is the results of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests.

Experts have said that these tests are not 100% full proof for detection of age. However the documentary evidence against Fortune Chukwudi was presented to the world on the front page of a national daily. This is sufficiently to throw up a red flag that something untoward about his age. The photograph has put paid to NFF's initial bullish response.

When the Andre Agassi story broke a few weeks back, some of his former colleagues criticised him. Others said they respected his decision to face the world, come clean and no longer live a lie. One of Agassi's big sponsors said they would not discard him but on the contrary embrace him for realizing his mistake and speaking the truth.

In the case of over-aged players in the age group tournaments, most of those one whose opinion one sought still condemned Mr. Amiesimaka's revelation. Not even the photograph on the front page of a newspaper convinced them that he had done the right and courageous thing.

Much of this has to do with the administrators of football in this country. They have not justified their positions, salaries and perks of office by nurturing talent from the grassroots to the senior levels.

Hence they have to use over-aged to cover the gaps. Indeed according to keen followers of the Nigerian football scene, the discrepancies in the age of our players and the blunt refusal of the authorities to accept and address once and for all is nothing new. Indeed our nonchalance on this issue has landed us where we are today. We need to have a production line of players; we need to develop a crop of home players and groom them to the top levels.

Poor documentation has also been pointed at as being the reason why this can happen so flagrantly. If our football administrators have done a thorough and professional job, no-one can come to them with false documentation because their own records are intact and up to date.

Nigerians pride themselves on being very spiritual and God-fearing. Sundays and Fridays remain sacrosanct in our weekly schedules. Yet why do we continue to allow incidents such as this to taint us as a nation. Reports say FIFA has called us "a nest of cheats". How sad!

The tournament is over. We need to take charge of our own image. Cheating and winning is wrong. In the matters of upholding the truth and honesty as a nation, there is only one path to follow: the right way which is the patriotic way.