Rage Online Blog
Thursday, October 28, 2004
News broke on the BBC yesterday of the signing of Brazilian legend Socrates to play for Northern Counties Eastern League side Garforth Town, along with the potential for Careca to join shortly, and Zico to pop his boots back on for next season. Garforth already boast the silky skills of ex-England, Manchester United, and Grindavik star Lee Sharpe.
However, this story isn't as strange as it first apppears (apart from the bit about Lee Sharpe). You see, Garforth are owned by a chap called Simon Clifford and Clifford also owns a string of coaching schools practising the art of Futebal de Salao. FDS is a five-a-side game originating in Brazil and played with a smaller, heavier ball. It's said to be one of the main reasons Brazilian players have been some of the most skilful in the world, as FDS promotes close-control, and general fancy-dannery. Clifford brought the game over to Britain and developed a coaching framework for the game. The FDS schools are sponsored by Lego who have given Clifford a seven figure budget (its entire sponsorship budget for the UK and Ireland) and their logo also appears on Garforth's shirts.
Clifford has plans for Garforth which will see all first-team players having served their apprenticeships playing FDS and these skills will help Garforth rise to the Premiership by 2025. I kid you not.
However, this story isn't as strange as it first apppears (apart from the bit about Lee Sharpe). You see, Garforth are owned by a chap called Simon Clifford and Clifford also owns a string of coaching schools practising the art of Futebal de Salao. FDS is a five-a-side game originating in Brazil and played with a smaller, heavier ball. It's said to be one of the main reasons Brazilian players have been some of the most skilful in the world, as FDS promotes close-control, and general fancy-dannery. Clifford brought the game over to Britain and developed a coaching framework for the game. The FDS schools are sponsored by Lego who have given Clifford a seven figure budget (its entire sponsorship budget for the UK and Ireland) and their logo also appears on Garforth's shirts.
Clifford has plans for Garforth which will see all first-team players having served their apprenticeships playing FDS and these skills will help Garforth rise to the Premiership by 2025. I kid you not.
Labels: Futebal de Salao, Garforth Town, Lee Sharpe, Simon Clifford, Socrates
# posted by Martin B @ 28.10.04 
