Notes from a sporting week 16/06/08

Amauri words a sign of things to come:

On Wednesday morning in the Italian press hidden amongst the recriminations from Italy’s 3-0 European Championship opening loss to The Netherlands, was a short piece about Juventus’ new signing Amauri. In it the Brazilian-born attacker, who has recently left Palermo for Turin, stated his desire to play for Italy at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Now Amauri wouldn’t be the first South American-born player to turn out for the Azzurri, after all currently starring for Italy in Austria and Switzerland is Mauro Camoranesi, who was born and raised in Argentina but, like so many of his compatriots qualified for an Italian passport and having performed for Verona and Juventus was capped by then coach Giovanni Trappatoni.

What should be of more concern to FIFA is what it will do to player development in the wealthier nations.

Italy is a something of an exception when it comes to qualifying for a passport. You need to be resident for 10 years and whilst his wife holds a passport it makes no difference for Amauri. Currently he is at the eight-year mark and has admitted that if he could, he would have accepted a call from Italy coach Roberto Donadoni to play in Austria and Switzerland.

Of course in two years time he will be a fully paid-up member of the Italian passport holders club and if he continues his form for Juventus chances are he will be part of the Italy squad (qualification depending) who defend their trophy in South Africa. Had he made it to the Alpine countries this year he wouldn’t have been alone as a Brazilian naturalised and playing for another country.

Portugal’s Deco has long been a star for FC Porto and Barcelona and fellow Brazil-born player Pepe, who gained his passport in August 2007 and went straight into the team, now joins him in the Portugal line-up. Marco Senna has made his name for Villarreal and once he became a citizen was brought in to solidify a Spain midfield featuring Xavi and Cesc Fabregas. Roger Guerreiro scored Poland’s goal against Austria on Thursday night and Marco Aurelio became Mehmet Aurelio when he joined Turkey’s Fenerbache and whilst he too anchors the midfield his inclusion isn’t 100% popular.

Most European countries only require someone to be resident within their borders for five years to qualify for a passport. Now in most cases, such as Roberto Carlos when he was at Real Madrid, it is so that they no longer qualify as a non-EU player and thus are outside any quotas. However it is easy to see how it can be more cynically exploited thanks to the FIFA’s rules that insist that anyone playing for a national team must have be a passport holder from that country.

Argentina is one such country that is aware of the threat from the rich European clubs. Realising that there is little that can be done to stop their players running to Europe the first time an agent waves a fist full of Euros or Pounds in their faces, they tie them up in national training schemes, imbuing them with a sense of patriotism when they go overseas. It is one reason why Leonardo Messi will never turn his back on Argentina, despite his formative years in Spain and his Spanish passport.

But of course not every South American family is as blessed with such talent as Senor Messi's and therefore what is to stop, for instant, English clubs heading over to South America picking up a load of talented Brazilian lads and parking them in England until they qualify for UK passports and therefore the national teams. Sure there are FIFA rules against player movements before a certain age, but these can be circumnavigated if the whole family is moved, as happened to the 13 year-old Messi.

I realise it is a bit of an extreme scenario, but such is the English clubs’ apathy to player development, that it wouldn’t be too much of a shock. There has already been talk of Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper playing for England when he qualifies for a passport next season and it wouldn’t be the first time that such a policy has existed. New Zealand with their three year requirement for citizenship have been parking talented Pacific Island rugby players at schools and then putting into provincial and national teams as they did with wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

We already have the situation whereby there is little compunction about a national team having a foreign coach and I realise that there can be little criticism of the players who are only taking advantage of passport laws for the betterment of their career. However, FIFA and the national associations need to get their heads round this issue if there is to any sense of national identity in international football in years to come.

Collingwood sounds note of caution:

Whilst the whole cricketing world seems to have gone bananas with the Twenty20 format, it took England one-day captain Paul Collingwood to remind everyone that there is more to the sport than a frantic two-hour (at most) session of bat thrashing and ball smashing and that test matches should not be forgotten as the highest form of the game.

The rise and rise of the short format of the sport continued this week when England announced they will play five Twenty 20 matches in the Caribbean this autumn, for a minor fee of £10million that will be shared between the winning players and staff.

Since Texas-born, Antigua-based multi-millionaire Sir Allen Stamford started bankrolling the modestly titled ‘Allen Stamford Series’ in the Caribbean, Twenty 20 cricket has snowballed.

We now have a credible tournament putting life back into cricket in the West Indies, something the International Cricket Council and the local organising committee failed to do with the 2007 Cricket World Cup and boy does it need it.

In recent years West Indian cricket has been hijacked by football, basketball and athletics, where once it was cricket that defined the region. Name a famous Jamaican sportsman and I would guarantee the first name that pops into your head is sprinter Asafa Powell rather than cricketer Chris Gayle. Likewise where are the heirs to Gary Sobers in Barbados or Brian Lara in Trinidad and Tobago?

It may only be a couple of years old, but Stamford recognised something when he created his series. That the islands are today truly independent nations and where they were once showcased to the world by their unified efforts as a cricket team, now they have their own individuals competing for an individual nation. Powell and new 100m world record holder Usain Bolt from Jamaica, fellow sprinters Obadele Thompson from Barbados and Ato Boldon from T and T, not to mention Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago making it to the World Cup finals in recent years.

India have now followed suit and their first year has been a resounding success of exciting action, full crowds and money through the tills. Watching this from afar has been the English and Welsh Cricket Board (ECB) whose original Twenty 20 concept now looks quaint by comparison.

Of course it is interesting that it is Collingwood who is trying to cool the frenzy. For years this was a player who was outstanding at one-day level, but who struggled to find a place in the test team. He could easily have sat back and enjoyed being a 50 over star and not fret too much about establishing himself in the longer form of the sport. But he wanted the credibility that comes from being a test cricketer and is now a key fixture of Michael Vaughan’s test side and what he says is true.

Twenty 20 is a valid form of the game and in terms of spreading the popularity of cricket is important (hell it is even shown on Italian TV), but it should be the first step in educating people about the sport as a whole, including the five-day format. After all the beauty of test cricket is that it lasts so long, but by being like that it gives the sport depth and substance. It is not something that can just be consigned to the bin on the whim of the man with the biggest cheque- book.
JI 16/06/08