Football Is A Rotten World – Disgruntled Togolese Goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale
The goalkeeper currently relies on donations to survive...
By K.N.S Mensah
Jan 8, 2011 1:05:00 PM
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Kodjovi Obilale, Togo (Getty Images)
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Kodjovi Obilale, Togo (Getty Images)
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Physically challenged Togo goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale remains a strong man a year after being shot twice in the lower back in a gun attack on their way to the Africa Nations Cup tournament in Angola.
The 26-year-old who is totally disappointed in the continental football governing body CAF and his national FA maintains a positive mind that he will bounce back if not through football to prove to the world that “God never sleeps.”
“I want to do loads of things. I started some training in computing. I’m preparing for a diploma in sports teaching. I’d like to start up a restaurant; an African restaurant here,” the father of two told the BBC.
“But at the moment I don’t have the means... I have written a book and soon it will be on the market. So there you go if it works well my dream is to build an African restaurant...those are my ambitions for the future.
“Even if there is no one supporting me, I’ll do what I can to pull through and to prove to the whole world that you can succeed by other means than just football. The people who told you come to the national team, come we’re waiting for you, answer the call; those people where are they now?
“You’re forgotten. That’s what the football world is like. When you are on two legs everyone is running after you [but] the day you fall down there is nobody there. That’s what it’s like and I am going to prove to the world, to those who are ignoring me, to those who are responsible for this incident and closed their eyes that everything is possible and that God never sleeps.”
Three people were shot dead in the ambush – Amelete Abalo, Stan Ocloo and Mario Adjoua- and nine others including players and officials were injured.
The former GSI Pontivy player has gone through seven operations to repair damage to his spine, liver, bladder and intestines and currently undergoing intensive physiotherapy in a bid to walk without the aid of crutches.
He is upset because CAF and his national FA have all ignored him because he is not a big name in African football.
"There are people who just don't have hearts. All they think of is counting their cash. Honestly, if my name was Samuel Eto'o or Didier Drogba it wouldn't be happening like this.
"Nobody would be offering me $25,000 [the sum FIFA originally offered] or $100,000. But it's because I play for Pontivy. [But] we all kick the same ball - it should be fair for everyone. They don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow, what my plans are. Nobody is asking.
"I'm fighting every day to ask for fairness in all this, to get compensation and all that.
"And everything I do, I do myself. I will have to shout for it. And that's why I say football is a rotten world."
The Togolese international who was part of the World Cup 2006 squad now lives on donations and the generosity of his former international colleague, Emmanuel Adebayor, who has remained in regular contact since the attack.
srlsly didnt know where to post this