Grenada Blog - Part 3

This week I had a really interesting conversation with someone who is trying to disrupt convention in football and create a new platform to help players showcase themselves.

The thing that stood out most for me was when he said "Information is power. If you don't control your information you don't exist"

This is a reality that I experienced through my time in Africa and continues here in the Caribbean. Clubs, scouts and agents are only interested in players with video clips and profiles on Transfermarkt and Wyscout. Contrary to the narrative that football is now a global game and scouts are searching high and wide the reality is, if you do not have means to access the platforms that they endorse, you DO NOT EXIST.

Those who know me, know that I am a highly critical person, intolerably so most of the time..So when I used to tell people that the boys I was working with in Uganda, were the most talented I had ever worked with, I didn't say that lightly. However, I saw that the challenge for them to get a fair shot was impossibly large.

This week one of those players has been called up to the Uganda national team at 17 years of age. I cannot express how proud I am of Jack and there is no means of adequately describing what a monumental achievement it is for him get this recognition amongst all of the age cheating and corruption that pervades football in the region.

https://kawowo.com/2019/11/26/cecafa-senior-challenge-cup-2019-mckinstry-includes-16-year-old-goalkeeper-on-30-man-provisional-uganda-cranes-squad/

If I am to have an impact in Grenada I must convince the football community here about the message of "Information is power".

We must support the players by recording their games and making them exist in the internet based world that currently acts as gatekeeper to them achieving success.

I always held the belief that talent rises to the top. I have been totally disavowed of that belief over the last few years and I am now adamant that presentation is the missing ingredient in developing nations. It makes me incredibly sad to see talented young people fall through the cracks and if we can solve this issue, a huge amount of change can happen.