More Than a Visa Player
Photo courtesy of the Mercury 2018
Every transfer window, football clubs receive hopeful emails from players around the world. Behind every highlight reel lies a much bigger question than "Can he play?" Sometimes, if you're very lucky, the answer changes your club forever.
Today’s inspiration came from an email I received overnight.
It landed in my inbox from a young Norwegian striker looking for an opportunity in Australia.
It was beautifully presented.
A professional football CV.
Highlight videos.
Statistics.
References.
An agent.
Photos alongside Erling Haaland and other talented Norwegian footballers from their junior days.
It was exactly the sort of application football clubs receive during every transfer window.
As I read it, I found myself smiling.
Not because I knew whether the player was good enough.
The truth is, I had absolutely no idea.
Instead, it reminded me of the hundreds of similar emails that landed in my inbox during my years as President of South Hobart.
Every one of them was asking the same question.
"Will you give me a chance?"
The Sales Pitch
There is absolutely nothing wrong with those emails.
In fact, if I were trying to build a football career on the other side of the world, I'd probably do exactly the same.
The transfer window is just as busy for agents as it is for clubs.
Their job is to create opportunities for their players.
They are selling potential.
Every highlight video shows the best moments.
Every CV lists achievements.
Every reference comes from someone who believes in the player.
That's exactly as it should be.
But a football club has a very different job.
The club isn't buying a product.
It's welcoming a person.
Someone who will spend every day with teammates.
Someone who will represent your badge.
Someone who may become a role model for your youngest players.
The club's job isn't simply to ask,
"Can he play?"
It's to ask,
"Will he make our club better?"
The Three-Minute Superstar
A three-minute highlight reel can make almost anyone look outstanding.
Goals.
Skills.
Perfect passes.
Great tackles.
What it doesn't show are the other eighty-seven minutes.
Does the player work for the team?
How do they react when things aren't going well?
Do they train hard?
Will they embrace the club?
Will they respect the volunteers?
Will they be happy living on the other side of the world?
Football clubs aren't simply recruiting footballers.
They're inviting someone into their culture.
The Real Cost
Supporters often ask why clubs don't simply sign more overseas players.
The answer is that the player's wage is only part of the story.
There are flights.
Visas.
Accommodation.
Transport.
Insurance.
Finding employment.
Helping someone settle into a new country.
At community and semi-professional clubs, those responsibilities rarely belong to paid staff.
They belong to volunteers.
Over the years, Ken and I have collected players from airports.
Helped them find somewhere to live.
Introduced them to employers.
Helped them open bank accounts.
Invited them into our home for meals.
Sometimes they arrived knowing nobody in Tasmania.
Sometimes they spent Christmas on the other side of the world, thousands of kilometres from their own families.
That's what football clubs do.
You don't simply recruit a player.
You welcome a person.
Sometimes Football Finds You
Not every overseas player arrived through an agent.
Sometimes football found us instead.
A backpacker travelling through Tasmania would hear about the club and ask if they could train.
Someone on a working holiday visa would simply want somewhere to play while they were here.
No polished CV.
No glossy sales pitch.
Just a footballer asking for a chance.
Sometimes they stayed for a few weeks.
Sometimes a season.
And every now and then...
...you hit the jackpot.
Ken's Test
Ken has always had a very simple philosophy when it came to recruiting overseas players.
"Is he better than what we've already got?"
Then came the second question.
"Is he better than one of the young players we've spent years developing?"
They're fair questions.
Every visa player takes a place in your squad.
Every visa player requires more work.
More organisation.
More responsibility.
More volunteer time.
If they aren't genuinely going to improve the team, or raise the standards around them, why wouldn't you invest that same time and energy into a young player you've developed yourself?
That never meant we were against overseas players.
Far from it.
It simply meant the benchmark had to be high.
More Than Talent
Football is funny like that.
One player can change the personality of an entire dressing room.
The right person raises standards without saying very much.
They train well.
They encourage teammates.
They make younger players want to improve.
Their enthusiasm becomes contagious.
Unfortunately, the opposite can also be true.
One player with a poor attitude can drain the energy from an entire squad.
They don't just affect their own performances.
They affect everyone around them.
That's why recruiting overseas players has never simply been about ability.
Character matters just as much.
Perhaps more.
Because when you bring someone halfway around the world, you're not just adding another footballer.
You're helping shape the culture of your club.
Then There Was Renato
Every now and then, though, you got it right.
One of those players for us was Renato De Vecchi.
Renato arrived in Tasmania in 2018 having already played professionally in Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Northern Ireland and Sweden.
On paper, he looked like an exciting signing.
On the pitch, he was even better.
He scored goals.
He created goals.
But statistics never really explained what made him special.
There was style in everything he did.
Every touch carried confidence.
Every time he received the ball, you sensed something might happen.
It didn't take long before Renato became one of those players people looked forward to watching.
But if that was all he had brought, I don't think I'd still be writing about him today.
What made Renato such a successful signing wasn't just his football.
He embraced the club.
He respected the volunteers.
He connected with teammates.
He became part of the South Hobart family.
Years later, I read that another club had described him as someone who would be a role model for younger players.
I smiled when I saw that.
That was exactly the Renato we knew.
He proved something we've always believed.
The best visa players don't simply improve your first team.
They improve your club.
The Next Email
Every transfer window another email would arrive.
Another striker.
Another midfielder.
Another beautifully prepared application.
Another dream.
Some would never come to Tasmania.
Some would stay only briefly.
A few would become very good footballers.
And every now and then one would become something much more than that.
Supporters only ever see the player running onto the pitch.
They rarely see the emails.
The research.
The phone calls.
The uncertainty.
The airport pickups.
The meals around the family table.
The volunteers quietly helping someone build a life in Tasmania.
Every transfer window was a gamble.
Somewhere in that pile of emails might be the next great goalscorer.
Somewhere might be a player who never settles.
Somewhere might be a player who changes the personality of your club.
You never really know.
That's why, after all these years, I came to one simple conclusion.
Agents sell opportunity.
Football clubs recruit people.
Because the very best visa players don't just score goals.
They leave your club stronger than they found it.
And every now and then...
...if you're very fortunate...
...you find a Renato.