“A lot of sporting careers have started in this town” was a comment made to me in passing a couple of weeks ago. It was a comment not referring to talented young sports stars who have come through the ranks of their sport in Western Australia to go on and mix with the best in the world such as Brad Jones (Liverpool and Australia) Lauren Mitchell, Marcus North, Simon Katich and Kieran Gorman to name just some.
Instead this comment was aimed at various ‘sports people’ who have cropped up in recent years claiming to have played for certain clubs overseas. Some are completely false claims, and others are cases of stretching the truth, and some are true but not in the way they are presented.
We have people who have had trials with a professional outfit, yet never won a contract claiming otherwise. We also have people who may have been part of a youth set up but never made it claiming that they played for say Manchester United. Which of course they did, but not the Manchester United we all think of. Then there are those who were good enough to win a contract or be registered with a club, but were not good enough to make it to the first team, but imply otherwise.
So what can we do to weed out who is telling the truth and who is stretching it? When are you entitled to say that you played for Real Madrid, Saracens or Lancashire County Cricket Club? Does a game in the under 15’s count?
It is creeping into the local game with some people claiming associations with the top sporting clubs in Western Australia, associations the clubs themselves no little about. Parents beware, check out the credentials of these people, which can easily be done by calling the club concerned or in some cases referring to historical websites.
As this gentleman implied Perth is becoming a hotbed of former top class sporting talent.
Spike, I agree that it is not the job of the governing body but they should I believe keep an eye on such things, as they are ultimately charged with running the game
The Governing bodies of any sport that may be maligned due to this sort of thing can’t be going around policing individuals integrity, otherwise they turn into the AFL. No segment of soceity is exempt from those with a lack of character. And I do not believe it is the role of sporting organisations to be the judges of character. Granted they should check out the credentials of prospective employee’s, as would/should any business. But good character does not guarantee to sporting success. The core business of any proffesional sporting organisation is to win, and for any amatuer body to increase participation and provide access to facilties to promote that growth. If I wanted guidance in how I should act in society I would go to church. I certainly don’t listen to what some clown who happens to have a killer right foot thinks about the Two State Solution, despite how many goals he scores.
As for those around town who happen to claim this or that, you only have to make a quick call to the body implicated by a suspected crap artist, to find the truth. Which brings me to the crux or the rant, CALL the BUGGERS OUT. Do the research, easy on the internet these days. If your wrong, no harm done, shut up and say nothing. If you are right, then it is beholden on you as a stakeholder in the game to speak up. Yes there maybe short term pain, but if you do the research and your right the sport can only be better off.
I can’t speak for Football West, but it does need to be Policed and I would think that the governing bodies of each sport should be monitoring this.
This is a big problem in Perth at the moment! Football Wst sghould do something about it, but they don’t even check their own employees.