Ferdinand: Ugandan Football Relations …
Observer: ‘Crazy, overwhelming and humbling,’ was Rio Ferdinand’s description of the welcome he received on landing in Uganda yesterday. The Manchester United defender is in East Africa to meet President Yoweri Museveni, who has offered Ferdinand - backed by Nike, West Ham and Manchester United - land on which to build a Proline Soccer Academy.
‘I thought there might be the odd fan and a couple of workers from the football school at the airport,’ Ferdinand said of the throng that jammed the 10-mile route from Entebbe airport to the capital, Kampala. ‘I was waving out of the window but then was told that I should really acknowledge it so I stood out of the roof. At one point I welled up.’
Ferdinand met President Museveni yesterday evening. Work on the academy, which will focus on education as well as football, will start immediately and should be finished by the end of next year. It targets 150 children aged three to 17, half of whom will be drawn from underprivileged families. The school will cost about £300,000.
M.E.N: RIO Ferdiand has become a huge hit in Uganda where he is promoting the Proline Soccer Academy initiative he has launched with his father, Julian.
And despite his glitzy image Ferdinand keen to help the young footballers of the impoverished African nation.
The highly-paid United ace has been perceived in some quarters as representing a lot that is wrong in modern football.
But no Reds player launches himself into unpublicised charity work and visits to local schools with more passion and obvious enjoyment that the Londoner.
He has been a high profile supporter of the Prince’s Trust, has set up his own White Chalk Music label to help develop music careers for youngsters and in April helped launch a project that saw Premiership stars visit schools to warn of the dangers of gun culture in Britain.
Ferdinand has given a lot back and his latest off-field assignment is the Proline Soccer Academy in Uganda.
Rio’s father spotted the untapped talent in the country with a 28m population and wanted to help the kids get an education and to help some realise their dream of becoming professional footballers.
The Ferdinands have enlisted the support of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who has offered free land for purpose built Academies.
Rio was allowed a rare visit to see the President in the State House in Nakasero whilst he has been on his three-day tour in Uganda, where Premier League action is popular TV viewing. An open-topped truck tour was greeted with incredible hysteria as thousands lined the streets of every village he passed through from the airport to the capital Kampala.
“If we brought United here I think there would be mayhem,” said Ferdinand of his astonishing greeting from the Ugandans.
“There would be riots and stuff. If you saw what happened with just me here, can you imagine what would happen if all the other United players came over? They live and breath football here, they love it.”
To that end Rio is hoping the Academies will unearth a new generation of African footballers.
“Players like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien at Chelsea, Emmanuel Adebayor, Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure are shining lights for youngsters in a country like this,” he added. “They are inspirational for them.
“I would like to see Uganda produce players like them in the future. I am certainly going to help develop the Ugandan kids because they have the talent. I will help the Academy.
“I have come here to help the kids. That’s the most important, to give them skills and inspiration of becoming important people and not only in football but in life as well.
“It is two-fold. The kids won’t be able to come to the Academy unless they are into school and go to school regularly. The Academy will have an affiliation with the schools in the area.
“We want to make sure the kids are attending school otherwise their football will suffer because they won’t be able to attend the Academy.
“The important thing is the kids have to realise they might not become a footballer.
“There are few out of the thousand and thousands who try to become a footballer who actually make it. They have to have their education.
“It has been a very humbling experience out here. It is weird because we go into training sometimes and there is a little bit of mud and we wonder what is going on and we have a moan about it.
“But you go to training grounds here and the pitches are very bumpy. It really humbles you and you realise you have to appreciate what you do have.
“These young kids love playing football and if they can come and play on turf like at the Academy it would be a dream come true for them.”
