Dubai: When John Mamea-Wilson first came to the UAE seven years ago, starting an academy was not the first thing on his mind. Now just over a year since setting up the Elite Sporting Academy at Repton School, the powerfully-built former Samoan rugby international is already beginning to see the fruits of his labour. Four young footballers from the academy will soon be heading to the UK for trials with two professional football clubs. It remains to be seen whether they succeed in convincing the men who matter, but for Mamea-Wilson, the opportunity itself represents a huge reward for one of the prime reasons he founded his dream institute.
Holiday is over
"When I first came here I thought I'll have a bit of a holiday," said Mamea-Wilson, who shifted base from Australia after his wife secured a job in the UAE. "But then I got into local rugby and started playing again for one of the local clubs. I got into coaching which is what I really enjoy. Then it just came to me that there weren't many Arabs playing rugby, so I started a team. They were the first Emiratis to play rugby here. That's how I sort of got into this."
"Along with that I saw there were a lot of children here that were a bit restricted in what they could do in their sport, especially rugby and football, because expats can't play in the local league," he added.
Having played professional rugby for six years in the UK, Mamea-Wilson could count on an impressive network of acquaintances he had built over the years. And having Tim Cahill, a professional footballer for English Premier League side Everton, for a cousin can only help your cause. "I told him there could be an opportunity here to start something up but with the point of difference being we give good coaching to kids. And if they are good enough, we can send them away just to have an opportunity," he said.
That's precisely what has come the way of Nick and Charlie Abbott and Yousef and Salim Bourezgui. "Anything can happen in a trial." said Mamea-Wilson. "But even to be asked to go on trial is huge. Because these kids live here. They could pick anyone from England or Europe, but they actually want to have a look at our kids. To get signed up, that will be unbelievable. We'll just see how it goes."
