Uganda LL team denied visas by US State Dept.

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, PA.

A youth baseball team from Uganda has lost its bid to become the first team from Africa to play in the Little League World Series because of discrepancies over players’ ages and birth dates.

League and team officials did everything possible to ensure players on the Rev. John Foundation team from Kampala were qualified and had documentation, a league representative, Richard Stanley, of New York City, said. Children who are 11 or 12 as of April 30 can play in the World Series, which is held each August in South Williamsport, Pa.

Stanley is credited by Little League with introducing and establishing the organization in Uganda after building a baseball academy several years ago. He said issues arose when ages and birth dates listed on documentation didn’t match those offered by parents, guardians or the players themselves during interviews with U.S. consular officials at the U.S. embassy in Kampala.

Several players provided false birth documents to make their ages appear younger, said a State Department official in Washington.

The team would have been the first squad from Africa to play in the 65-year history of the World Series.

Stanley said birth records in Uganda are not strictly tracked, as in the United States.

“Now when the parent comes in, they get asked, ‘What’s the birth date of your child? Are you the birth parent?’ They don’t even know what that means in some cases, so they can’t answer the question,” said Stanley, a retired chemical engineer who owns a 2.5 percent stake in the Trenton Thunder Double-A minor league baseball team. Listed as an officer on a Uganda Little League Baseball directory, Stanley said he has donated about $1.5 million to the organization there.

“So now it’s a question of credibility. All you need is one person to not be credible and the visa officer is not obligated to issue a visa,” Stanley added, “and if they don’t issue one visa, they’re not going to issue any visa.”

Stanley and State Department spokesman Mark Toner both said it was unclear how many visas were denied.

“In this case, I can assure you that consular officers examined each of these individuals and accorded them every consideration under the law. This is a very difficult situation, but our consular officials are committed to upholding U.S. law,” Toner said at a briefing in Washington.

Toner declined to discuss specifics about the discrepancies, but said that officials considered “all appropriate data, place of birth date of birth, family name ... and take all that into consideration before making their judgment.”

There is no age requirement for a U.S. visa. However, lying or providing incorrect or misleading information on a visa application is grounds for denial.

In Little League, players discovered to be over or underage can be disqualified, or their teams can be disqualified. That was amplified in 2001 when Danny Almonte of the Rolando Paulino All-Stars from New York City was stripped of the first perfect game in Little League World Series history when he was found to be 14. His team was disqualified and their participation stricken from the World Series record books.

Keener has said Little League has been vigilant in trying to ensure that players are qualified for tournament play, especially since Almonte’s disqualification.