| Football ticket to ride out of slums |
| Friday 19 February 2010 |
 from Hawke's Bay Today (New Zealand)PHIL Clarke eases into the comfy chair of the interview room. Like a moggy curling up in front of a roaring fire in winter, the Hawke's Bay United soccer player adjusts his 74kg frame before engaging in the question-answer ritual. It's not easy to decipher his Liverpudlian accent but he has no qualms about hitting the rewind button to massage his words. What he reveals, though, about Toxteth, the inner city area of Liverpool on the Merseyside of England, needs no interpretation. "It's a slummy, black-populated area. You are already labelled even before you kick a ball,'' the 21-year-old midfielder tells SportToday before their New Zealand Football Championship (NZFC) match against YoungHeart Manawatu in Napier on Sunday. "I have lighter skin but a lot of my friends are dark,'' Clarke says of Toxteth, describing it as a melting pot of Africans, Asians and other diverse ethnicities. While Toxteth gained international notoriety in July 1981 for rioting amid claims of institutionalised racism from the local constabulary, it is interesting to note the area has had some famous residents. Among the who's who of Toxteth are despot Adolf Hitler, Beatle Ringo Starr and footballer Robbie Fowler, to name a few. That Starr reportedly didn't have any emotional attachment to his birthplace when the council tried to revamp the area speaks volumes for Clarke. "A lot of my family and friends are in prison now for doing drugs and those sorts of things,'' says the son of a white mother, Tracey, and England-born Barbadian father Eddie. Before he went to school every morning, Clarke would kick a ball against the derelict walls of his neighbourhood. When he returned from school, he would turf his bag in a corner and dash out to the streets for a game with his mates. "You had to do a lot not to be sidetracked,'' he says. "I had to stay on the straight and narrow road.'' In the mould of a centre-mid with a healthy peripheral vision, Clarke points out Toxteth youth tend to play the racist card too often these days to get out of having a haircut and scoring a real job. The Unity Youth Club, where he played soccer and pool, became a timely distraction for the then teenager. "I got a job as a youth worker there and the younger lads started looking up to me as a semi-professional [player] and I made a name for myself,'' says Clarke, who Liverpool and Everton club talent scouts recruited through the age-group years. "I don't think there's a feeling like that,'' Clarke says of making the academies, adding "football's football'' and Everton is just as good as Liverpool. His 11-year-old brother, Eddie junior, is coming through the Everton academy now and he wishes he were there to support him. "It's very hard because he looks up to me.'' While Clarke would like to go back home to give something back to his community, he's aware the beautiful game is his ticket to liberate himself from a grim environment. "Any person from England will tell you that if you don't play football there's something wrong with you,'' he says. "I always knew I was going to be playing at a decent level and making some money out of it.'' Pivotal to his progress is the support he receives from his parents, especially his mother. "Without my dad's financial support, I wouldn't be where I am today or the person I am.'' Aiming to clinch a soccer scholarship in the United States to become a primary school teacher, Clarke is enjoying is his first foray into the NZFC arena that has lured him away from the shores of Britain for an entire season. Having travelled to several countries, including Spain and Canada for tournaments, Clarke plied his trade in the Welsh Premier league for one and a half seasons. He played for the Caernarfon Town, Connah's Quay and Welshpool clubs. "They are more physical there and there's not much football,'' he says, adding he enjoys having more time on the ball here as opposed to the UK where everyone is "throwing more tackles and running for 90 minutes''. It was Liverpudlian Adam Dickinson, a former Connah's Quay and current Auckland City player, who suggested Clarke play for Bay United. It did help that Englishman and Bay coach Matt Chandler knew some of Clarke's age-group coaches. While it's frustrating that Clarke has warmed the benches and hasn't played much at Bluewater Stadium for the Bay, he validates Chandler's reason for leaving him out at times because of a change in formation. "It's a shame that someone has to be injured for me to get a start but I'm grateful for the opportunity to start.'' It's taken him some time to adjust to the "countryside feeling'' of the Bay, considering Toxteth is akin to throwing the entire Napier population into the size of Taradale, punctuated by high-rise buildings and children playing soccer in the streets at 2am. "Over here, the streets are dead between 8 to 9. The shops are closed and there's no nightlife.'' Flatmate and fellow English import Bill Robertson, who is out injured after just 10 minutes of game time this season, "is playing his game through me''. Clarke also receives encouragement from injured incumbent centre-mid Chris Greatholder. Clarke believes the tide is turning for the Bay. Last round's 1-nil away win over Team Wellington shows they are not missing "second balls''. "We've still got a chance of making the play-offs,'' he says, claiming he works hard at training to give the first-choice players a decent workout. |