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| photo by Jonathan Assink |
- by Joe Curtis, writing from Pembroke Pines, FL
Outside of the United States, Soccer/Football is king. Children all over the globe dream of becoming the next Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo and imitate them in the streets and at local parks. They dream of the fame, glory, and of course money. Not everyone will be able to be the next superstar, but they may be able to become a professional player. The road to becoming a professional footballer is not an easy one. Some will find the ugly truth of the path to the beautiful game, but those are not the stories that are told over and over again. The stories that are told are those of success. These are the stories that people want to hear because it gives them hope. Hope that they will live their dream. Hope that they will be able to live a better life than they currently are.
The 2005 film Goal! is about such a story. It may not be a true story, but it is a great example of those success stories told all over the world. The film follows Santiago Munez, a young man who entered the United States illegally from Mexico with his father. He works with his father in landscaping as well as a busboy at a local restaurant. Santiago’s dream, like many around the world, is to become a footballer. This is a hard dream to pursue due to his family’s economic status, and as a result he begins to accept the fact that his dream may never become a reality. Luckily for Santiago, a former Newcastle United player and scout, Glen Roy, notices his skill and offers him a chance to try out for Newcastle. Santiago rushes home to collect the money he has saved to fly to England. When he arrives at his house he realizes that his father had used that money to purchase a new truck for their business. Again, luckily for Santiago his grandmother sold some of her jewelry in order to pay for his ticket to London. Glen Roy greets Santiago and invites him to stay at his house while he is on trial with Newcastle. Santiago’s trial, however, is a disaster. Once again, luck saves Santiago. Glen is able to convince the manager that Santiago’s poor performance was due to jetlag and Santiago is given a second chance. Santi eventually makes the reserve team, and then is called up to be a substitute for the first team. Thanks to injuries in the lineup, Santi makes his first appearance in a Premier League game against Fulham, wins a penalty, and helps his team come out with a victory. Later in the season Santiago scores a free kick goal that earned Newcastle a place in the Champions League.
Goal! is a great story, mostly because it has a happy ending. Santiago fulfilled his dream. This story is true for many. A real life example of Santiago is Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, a Mexican kid who was signed by Manchester United. In one season he went from unknown to indispensible. These are the stories that make the headlines. These are the stories that mislead people into believing that the road to becoming a footballer is an easy one. This is far from the truth. In the real world not everyone is as nice and helpful as Glen Roy was to Sanitago. Yes, the real world is filled with people who will offer trials with big teams to young players, but the majority of those people will abandon that player if he turns out to be not worth his time and money. The ugly truth is that money does talk, and everyone does listen. People do what it takes to get money. That most likely involves doing the opposite of what is morally correct.
Africa is the victim of the majority of these “soccer trafficking” acts. Kids in Africa grow up in poverty. Families in Africa hope and pray that they will be lucky enough to have children who can help provide for their family. Families see superstars like Didier Drogba, and Michael Essien who also grew up living in small shacks who are now football superstars. They and other players who were fortunate enough to make it to the top were able to move their families into new two-story houses on the other side of town. Families hoping that they too could be as fortunate as Drogba and Essien begin pushing their children to train in order to become the next superstar. Families feel that chances are good because more and more Africans are making it to the top. In 1989 there were four African players in the English Premier League. All of them were white. In 2009 there were 60 African players, nearly all black. This is where agents from Europe come in and “sell hope” to the families. These agents convince families that their son will be a superstar, and that they will be able to move out of the slums. They guarantee this, and all they ask in return is an upfront payment to cover travel and expenses for the trial with a team. In order to make this payment families make huge sacrifices, just like Santiago’s grandmother did. In Africa, however, this meant selling the family car, which could have been used for business purposes to bring in more income for the family.
Once the payment is made the families believe that they had just taken the first step to living a better life. The ugly truth is that the trial that was promised for their son does not always happen, and even if it does, they don’t always make the team. When this happens the agent just abandons the player. It is estimated that 20,000 soccer players are stranded across Europe. This is very different from the story in Goal! were Santiago also didn’t make the team the first time around, but Glen Roy (his agent) was able to arrange another trial. In the real world agents don’t always care because if you aren’t going to make them money you are not valuable. This leaves the families in Africa living worse than they were before, and missing a child. And yet families keep trying. If families know that they may give up their life savings and lose a child but are still willing to try it tells you something. The risk does not outweigh the benefits; losing a child is worth the chance to live a better life. It isn’t just agents who are involved. Local coaches can purchase the rights to a player once they turn 15. Coaches then sell the rights to agents, and in return get a percentage if that player signs a contract with a team. Players can also be sold to other local youth teams. Soccer/Football has become a business, a “total business”.
FIFA has made some efforts to stop soccer trafficking. Earlier this month FIFA blocked over 100 requests to transfer young players across national borders. FIFA official Mark Goddard said Thursday that more than 10 percent have been rejected since tougher transfer monitoring began last October. FIFA hopes that by making it harder to transfer youngsters it will change the behavior of agents and clubs who are involved in trafficking. "We don't necessarily think all minors are going through the system, but we're working on ways to make sure that becomes a very bad decision," Goddard said. FIFA received reports from South America that suggested that trading minors had become so difficult that clubs were beginning to wait until they turned 18. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end, but clubs will conitnue to find a new way to gain an advantage on competition.
Sources: "Soccer's Lost Boys" by Vanguard, GOAL!, NBCSports.msnbc.com
