大象传媒

Sunday 10 August

At a time when pessimistic talk of the credit crunch and a potential recession dominate the headlines, it has been quite challenging at times to remember that 2008 has been a tremendous year for sportsmen and sports fans.聽Even now we sit centre-circle watching in amazement at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, with – as I write – Great Britain claiming a gold medal in the women's cycling competition.聽Sporting optimism, it seems, will simply never fade.

My one fundamental proviso, throughout the course of the series of articles I've produced for readers and for 大象传媒 Shropshire, was to attempt to capture the variety, diversity and multiplicity of the 2008 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament - a naturally vain attempt, because it would take more than one man, his laptop and a few hundred words to do justice to an event that is at the very forefront of promoting social and cultural inclusion through a shared passion for sport.聽

It has once again been a privilege to be a spectator at the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament.聽The standard of football played throughout the course of the week has never been higher, the speed never as fast, the technique never as polished.聽

It truly is marvelous to be able to report among the list of winners at this year's event so many British teams claiming silverware.聽They've measured themselves against some of the very best sides international youth football has had to offer. They've not only won, but have learnt immensely important lessons about how to handle different cultures, how to perform when the pressure is upon you, and how to play fairly.

Competitors and spectators together

Englishmen and Welshmen have rubbed shoulders with Argentines, Estonians, Mexicans and Romanians.聽Referees have mixed with seasoned professionals and developing youngsters.聽As I've stressed in my reports throughout the course of the week, the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament has been fundamentally an educational experience - one where all those involved learn culturally, socially and in a sporting sense.

The 2008 tournament

So here begins a round-up of the 2008 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, an event whose 140 teams from across five continents provided the most exhilarating sporting spectacle over five days of intense competition.

In the 1989/90 Shrewsbury and Atcham Cup, Ellesmere Rangers emerged as winners in a group which also featured Hereford, Short Football, and Discoveries (of South Carolina).聽Ellesmere had a second reason to celebrate, their own K Renshaw winning the top goalscorer award for his age group.聽

In the 1991/92 Mitre International Cup, Port Vale beat Sutton Coldfield 3-0 to win an event that had also featured Ulster Schools and Estonians SC Real Tallinn.聽The 1991/92 Creative Digital Trophy was won by Mexicans Cruz Azul, who beat Swansea City in the competition's final in a thrilling 5-4 win. Bangor City's D Smith won top goalscorer of the age category, with James Beeston of Port Vale winning Player of the Age Group.

Swansea City, who won two competitions in the 2007 tournament, won the 1993/94 Sportsjam Cup, beating Wolverhampton Schools 4-3 on penalties in the final. Earlier in the day, they had defeated Ludlow Town 5-0 in the semi-final.聽

The 1993/94 Drovers Travel Trophy was won by Oldham Athletic, who beat Mexicans Club Necaxa 2-1. The Player of the Age Group Award was won by M Dalla Costa of Argentine Club Jorge Griffa, with the Fair Play Award handed to Cardiff City.

The 1995/96 Darwin Centre Cup goes home with Blackpool FC, who defeated Plymouth Elite 1-0 in the semi-final before beating Swansea in the final. The 1995/96 Pride Hill Centre Trophy was won by Barnsley FC, who beat Wolverhampton 6-1. The age category's top goalscorer was L Boucher of Willenhall Juniors, with the Player of the Age Group Award won by K Kauber of SC Real Tallinn.聽The Fair Play Award was earned by Tobermore.

The 1996 SLI Security Cup is in the hands of Bangor City.

The 1997 Wrexham and Shropshire Railway Cup is in Barnsley FC's possession, after the Yorkshire outfit defeated Blackpool FC 4-2 in the final.聽The 1997 Trophy Room Award was won by Bishops Castle, who beat Wolverhampton 3-0 in the event’s final.聽 Top goalscorer was Barnsley’s M Holgate, with T Roberts of Cemaes Bay winning the Player of the Age Group Award.聽 Bangor City won the Fair Play Award.

Clubs for Young People won the competition's two main girls' events: the 1994/95 Tanat Valley Coaches Cup and the 1996/97 Sabrina Cup.聽Aberystwyth won the Fair Play Award in the former age category, and Madeley Sports the latter.

More than just football

There's so much more to this event that happens off the pitch, away from sporting competition.聽I hope in the course of my week's reports that I've been able to draw upon this. Off-the-pitch activities have also been taking place, everything from a professional referee's visit to a host of skills workshops.

On Monday, FC New York under-13 Ladies were treated to a special, tailored coaching session with Andy Baker of Shropshire Girls' Centre of Excellence. The girls, who compete in the Long Island Junior Football League back at home in the United States, played for nearly two hours at the Shrewsbury Sports Village's arena pitch, taking part in skills, passing and shooting drills.聽

The same afternoon saw Martin Wood, Shrewsbury's very own town crier, visit the tournament to deliver a rousing performance in his own inimitable style.聽Arriving just after 2pm, Martin announced his entrance to the tournament in his booming, bruising manner before visiting a few of the Shrewsbury Sport Village's changing rooms to give competing teams inspirational pre-match speeches.

Monday also saw the first of the much-loved and well-attended one-day festivals, the event catering for the 1999 age group.聽In a competition based around matches of 15 minutes, entertaining and competitive football was played throughout the morning and into the early hours of the afternoon.聽

The spectacle saw Welshpool Town, Wrexham Centre of Development, Swansea City Centre of Development and Tranmere Rovers A and B teams participate.聽Also competing were Stoke City Centre of Development A and B teams, Bishop's Castle, Montgomery and Shropshire Villa. Swansea Jacks and Newtown Whitestars completed the competition's line-up.聽All participants were equally rewarded, taking home a token of their participation.

Wednesday saw the inaugural Sixes and Sevens event take place at the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, with six- and seven-year-olds given the opportunity to participate in specially designed games and skill drills.聽

Overseen by members of the Soccer Destinations team and coaching staff, participants were given the opportunity to attempt several skill challenges in the Skills Arena before aiming to hit the right spot with some target practice.

Later in the day, the Sixes and Sevens Event was concluded with a gruelling penalty shootout and a final skills challenge.

Most memorably, Dermot Gallagher - former Premiership referee and FIFA-listed official - attended the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament on Wednesday. He oversaw and mentored a handful of the referees before taking charge of the Club Jorge Griffa versus Oldham Athletic match on the Competition Pitch.聽He arrived just after 10am, meeting the tournament's referee co-ordinator and was given the opportunity to see the refereeing set-up.

Andy Mulliner, record appearance holder at The New Saints with 226 appearances, provided several goalkeeping coaching sessions on the same afternoon as he passed on skills and technique advice to the next generation of goalkeepers.聽

The current Caersws goalkeeper, who began his career as a Port Vale trainee, returns to the tournament today to oversee more goalkeeping workshops.聽 He guided his tutees in catching, diving-at-feet and shot-stopping exercises.

The 2000 festival took place on Wednesday at the 2008 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, with flamboyant, fast-paced football played throughout the morning and into the afternoon.聽

Fifteen-minute games of one-way football were played by numerous sides from across the United Kingdom, with the start and end of matches marked by the cacophonous sound of an air horn.聽

Welshpool Town, Wrexham Centre of Development A and B teams, West Bromwich Albion Centre of Excellence A and B teams, and Bishop's Castle all competed.聽Montgomery, Port Vale, Waterloo Rovers, Shropshire Villa and Wednesfield also took part.聽Stoke City Centre of Development A and B teams, and Swansea A, B, C and D teams completed the competition's line-up.聽Friday saw the 1999 festival take place.

We've reached the end of another year of the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, with the event demonstrating its strength and depth by providing a truly thrilling sporting spectacle for the town of Shrewsbury and the wider county.

We've seen the highest attendance over the course of the week in the history of the tournament, and we've seen more teams than ever competing - 140 in total, from across five continents.聽The organisers' aim for next year's event is to continue to promote the mantra since the tournament's inception: to provide local teams with the opportunity to play against opposition they wouldn't do ordinarily in a league season.聽

They will hope to widen participation from local Shropshire teams, British teams and international club sides to make sure the 2009 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament is as successful as the 2008 event has been.

Pablo Picasso once said that action is the foundational key to all success.聽That view could not be more appropriate in view of the success of the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament.聽It has been the energy, the enthusiasm, and the determination to succeed that has given the tournament its momentum.聽

The fact that the 2,500+ participants and 10,000+ visitors have been involved is what makes this tournament so special. The organisers have created and shaped the future of football.

It's been a whole host of fun writing these reports. I'd also like to thank 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire too, both for the coverage, and for their enthusiasm.

Finally, however, I'd like to thank you, the readers.聽A tournament - an event - is nothing without its enthusiasts and its participants.聽Without you all, all efforts would be meaningless.聽It's you that provides the spark that sets the tournament alight, and ultimately it's you that holds the future of football in your hands.聽

Thanks for reading.

Day five: Thursday, 7 August

The countdown to the finals of the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament has begun, with quarter- and semi-finals played out at a blistering pace to separate the footballing haves from the footballing have-nots.聽

Those that believe they are hungry enough for success have had that desire put to the test and scrutinised in an intense competitive atmosphere, testing their physical and mental strength and pushing themselves beyond boundaries they never thought possible.聽

I always enjoy this segment of the tournament because it brings out the full range of emotions in those involved – unparalleled joy and jubilation in the winners, and the most despairing feelings of loss and desperation for the runners-up.聽As a neutral, it simply couldn't be a more compelling football spectacle.

I received quite a surprise early on in my shift at the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament today, and I'm pleased to report it was an extremely positive and encouraging one.

I assigned myself to an under-11 match between Maiden City of Ireland and the West Bromwich Albion Development Centre, expecting a match in which the Irish - as they are famed for doing - would play aggressive, bruising football that would intimidate their opponents.聽Far from it.聽Maiden City played some of the best football of the tournament so far, playing high-tempo, pressing, exhilarating football that delighted spectators of all ages.聽

Their success was built upon a strong communal work ethic, a willingness to be ambitious and a never-say-die attitude.聽They won the match, of course, but the score was really irrelevant.聽It was a comprehensive victory that overcame the battling resistance of a talented West Brom team.

Fast forward a few hours and I was witness to a match of a totally different order on pitch five, where Discoveries from South Carolina took on Short Football from the Midlands in the 1989/90 age group.聽The Americans struggled to keep their shape against fierce and formidable opponents, and were cut open several times - to their cost - as they were dispossessed or gaps were exposed in their defence.聽

However, American defensive misgivings are not the reason I draw attention to this match.聽What really caught my attention was the way in which the manager and spectators of the American team behaved when their team went several goals down.聽

It's quite typical in Britain to see parents and managers alike berating their team's players at the sight of a misplaced pass, especially when the chips are down.聽The American philosophy is entirely different.聽The American manager simply spoke calmly to his players individually, explaining what he expected of them, what they had done well and what they could improve on.聽

The team's collective spirit was far more visually noticeable than anything I'd seen in the entire course of the tournament so far, and maybe that was the fundamental driving factor behind their small comeback when they began the second half.聽This is what this event offers you: a glimpse of the man-management and coaching techniques from other cultures.聽It's something that can't really be taught, it has to be experienced.聽

I've elaborated at length this week about how I feel we could learn from our visitors in terms of their organisation and coaching. Sports psychology plays an increasingly pivotal role in professional sport in the 21st Century, and we in Britain should fundamentally educate our coaches that telling a child that he or she is "useless" is far more damaging than taking them aside, having a quiet word and explaining an individual's strengths and weaknesses.聽

We've got to reign-in the instincts of those failed-footballers-turned-coaches that make football a military exercise to be endured rather than enjoyed by youngsters.聽Football is more than a sport with two goals and a round-ball: football, for many people, is a culture, a philosophy.聽Football's principles of team-work, strong communication and dedication are universal, applicable to any way of life, in and out of sport.聽

The emphasis has got to be participation over perfection. Charles Dickens had to learn to write sentences before he began writing novels.聽Michael Jackson had to learn the basic elements of music before releasing Thriller.聽In the same manner, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo learnt to kick a football and run with it before attempting Cruyff and Maradona turns.

Finals, film-making and flamboyant celebrations from winning teams: tomorrow promises to be very exciting indeed.

Day four: Wednesday, 6 August

Wednesday evening at the Shrewsbury Sports Village: a feeling of satisfaction at having successfully completed an outstanding set of group stages is counteracted by a feeling of knowing the most competitive and highest-stakes matches are yet to be played.聽Footballing stars are yet to be unearthed, much football is still to be played, and prizes are still to be won.

It's been one of those days when so much has gone on that it's been a challenge to take it all in. It really has been a wall-to-wall football experience, with goalkeeping coaching, skills drills, documentary-making, four-a-side football, and an ex-Premiership referee in attendance.聽This is the business end of the tournament, what Alex Ferguson would so aptly describe as "squeaky bum time". And it's always the case that Wednesday provides a spike in the tournament's excitement levels.

Today saw the beginning of the girls' tournament, after two exhibition matches yesterday that had acted as showpiece openers and had featured the mercurial talents of FC New York and the Shropshire Centre of Excellence.聽The central girls' competition, aside from the American outfit, has featured a plethora of British sides, many from places across the Welsh border.聽

Girls' football has an unwarranted reputation in Britain of lacking the pace, penetration and skill levels of the men's game.聽It's treated like a sideshow that one has to be bear.聽It shouldn't be, and this widespread assumption couldn't be further from the truth.聽I was genuinely impressed by the enthusiasm, dedication and commitment of the female footballers on show here at the Shrewsbury Sports Village today.聽They were energetic, endearing and enthusiastic.

Their football perhaps did lack the fluidity of their male counterparts, but what they lacked in terms of technique they gained in competitive edge.聽Ladies' football in the United Kingdom is growing.聽It may not be as easy on the eye as men's football, but what I can say with great confidence is that a few of the female footballers today would have really tested the male footballers of the same age.聽

It's a testament to the inclusive nature of this year's Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament that so many female footballers have travelled to compete, and - now that they've arrived - they're giving no quarter and playing to win.

The large majority of my day has been spent with John, a documentary-making friend who brought along an array of photographic and cinematic equipment in order to capture footage for a DVD being made about the tournament.

If John is to be believed, I am going on camera on Friday to do an interview.聽Let's hope that one doesn't make the final cut.聽Regardless of that, a television camera always has the most energising of effects on people.

It was genuinely delightful to be able to walk around the fields grabbing snatches of interviews with Englishmen, Scotsmen, Estonians, Welshmen, Argentines, Mexicans, Americans and Irishmen and to be able to learn of their enthusiasm for the tournament and for the sport in general.聽

It can only be to Shropshire's great advantage that many have already expressed their desire to return next year. As a writer, I try so hard to avoid using clich茅s and tired phrases that seem to sound hollow and insincere, but I'm afraid I'll have to describe football - in this instance - as a great uniting force, a cultural and social entity that's brought so much enthusiasm out of so many people, and so much happiness to everyone involved.

Dermot Gallagher, who retired in May 2007 having been a Premiership referee from the league's inception in 1992, came to the tournament today to first oversee (in a mentoring capacity) the development of the young refereeing contingent at this year's event, and then to take charge of a 3-1 Argentine win over a tenacious Oldham Athletic on the competition pitch.

Mr Gallagher is well-known and well-respected in the British footballing community.聽Young referees, with questions about players and various situations, asked questions of Dermot all day, and he responded comprehensively, confidently and showed a real interest in what his young counterparts had to say. His later refereeing performance was as professional as I've seen in a live football match - at all times calm, composed and judging faultlessly the atmosphere of the game.聽Dermot returns tomorrow to continue his work.

Two days remain, and there will be winners and losers.聽That's not the true meaning of this event, however.聽There can only be a select few winners, a dozen at most. But it's important to remember that in the midst of competitive spirit the true essence of this competition is participation, and developing yourself through participation.聽

For the 2008 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, don't read triumph - read teaching.聽As Aristotle once said, the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.聽Don't hedge one's bets on winning, because sometimes losing is more of an educational experience.聽Sometimes one must push through the pain barrier in order to see its rewards.聽Goodnight.

Day three: Tuesday, 5 August

Day Three at the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament reminded me of the Champions League final on so many levels. Not least because when Ankur Desai - my new football-obsessed friend from 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire - asked many of the American participants about their favourite players, the inevitable answers were Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and John Terry.聽

Today reminded me about the personality that lies behind this bizarre round-ball-game of ours, of the character and the eccentricity that marks football out as a sport of such engaging entertainment.

Today I've encountered ambitious Argentines, mighty Mexicans, entertaining Englishmen and wily Welshmen, and - in one of the most atmospheric and collectively successful days in the history of the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament - the fact remains that there is simply far more to football than its technical aspects.聽

Brian Clough's mantra was that players win football matches, not tactics.聽It's a mantra that won Clough two European Cups with Nottingham Forest, taking seemingly average players beyond all expected thresholds to deliver the greatest club competition prize in the world, twice.

It seems to me that, on a quantifiable sports psychology plane, and on a more abstract character formation level, there exists a state in football where sporting success depends upon clarity of thought, thoroughness of preparation, creativity and inventiveness, and sheer athletic proficiency.聽It's a state of being that marks out the greats from the greatest, the Maradonas from the Liam Millers, the exciting from the utterly exceptional.聽

I've seen this week, and learnt from some of the greatest teachers in the world - in the form of the Argentines and Mexicans, in particular - that the development of young footballers is not an impossible obstacle course.聽To reach the pinnacle of football, you must create the conditions conducive to success: a winning mentality, a first-rate athleticism, and unshakeable focus.聽

This is where we in England, certainly in an international football sense, can learn a lot from our European neighbours and our transatlantic friends.

As a writer and as an anorak for football information and trivia, this tournament provides a hugely enjoyable and hugely rewarding position for me.聽One ability that's essential is the knack of being in the right place at the right time, knowing how to approach people to tease the information you require from them.聽Another is the patience to sometimes work extremely hard to find a story.聽

Today, I didn't need either.聽As soon as I walked into the Sports Village, Swansea City's under-10, one-day festival side had already taken their position within the main building.聽They had, and I say this with no exaggeration, beaten most of the Soccer Destinations staff in a race to get to the third day of the tournament.聽This, I thought to myself, was remarkable.

It was 8.30am and they must have been in the building for at least 20 minutes.聽Their body language suggested so.聽Intriguing.聽I later discovered, from talking to the players, that they had indeed been waiting patiently for some time, having left Swansea for Shrewsbury at 6am.聽

Swansea have, in the history of Soccer Destinations teams, been star contributors and participants - indeed, they won two titles in last year's event, and deservedly so. But this, I thought, warranted special mention - this was commitment, desire and a willingness to embrace the tournament that can only be described as exceptional.聽And all this before play had even started.

Tomorrow sees Dermot Gallagher's visit to the tournament. Having refereed at Premiership level since its inception (only recently retiring), Gallagher provides a high-profile focus on an issue Alex Ferguson has discussed recently, that of refereeing professionalism.聽

The FA, in recent years, has decided to enforce refereeing as a full-time occupation in the top-flight, allowing its referees to focus on fitness, technique and manner.聽 Gallagher will assess the tournament's referees and take charge of a game himself, bringing attention to members of the footballing fraternity that usually only ever remembered for bad and unpopular decisions.聽It's all tremendously exciting, and I'll write more about this tomorrow.

My goodness - reviewing this diary entry has shown me that I've probably written enough for one evening!聽I've always had a problem with word limits. I enjoy writing far too much to be restricted by something that perennially distills the meaning of what you're trying to say - so tonight's feature provides no exception.聽

I hope through tonight's diary entry I've drawn upon the essence of what this tournament is all about: education.聽

The tournament is an education for coaches, learning new teaching techniques and new skill drills.聽The tournament is an education for players, measuring themselves against different styles and different mind-sets in order to make them more adaptable opponents.聽The tournament, it could even be said, is an education for the organisers about how best to keep the myriad members of this tournament satisfied.聽

We could do far worse than to learn a few ideas from our international friends about their football philosophy.聽After all, any cultural experience is more than just learning how to say "my name is..." in another language!

Day one: Sunday, 3 August

Albert Camus, existentialist philosopher and author of such renowned novels as The Outsider, once remarked that every lesson he had learned in life had its roots in the sport of football. The first evening of the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament has only served to exemplify and reinforce Camus's clear-sighted philosophy.

I arrived at the Shrewsbury Sports Village at roughly 3pm, having checked into my hotel further down the M54 in Telford an hour earlier. Even though my 40-mile journey from my home in Mid Wales had naturally presented its own organisational and logistical challenges, I quickly learned as the visiting teams arrived that my travel qualms were very much unfounded and quite unjustified: colleagues described to me plentiful stories of jet-setting near-misses as teams from the east coast of the United States to Estonia emerged unscathed and arrived safely in Shropshire despite having suffered delays and encountered the type of travel chaos that would leave even the most experienced traveller anxious.

I think the majority of the spectators in the grandstand of the competition pitch would agree, it was well worth it: two 7-a-side matches were played out in front of a frenzied and excitable crowd, with Wolverhampton Schools FA, West Bromwich Albion Development Centre, FC New York and Cemaes Bay leaving the pitch to rapturous applause.

Distinguished guests welcomed all of the participating teams onto the main pitch as part of a colourful and cacophonous opening ceremony. Following the ceremony, and the official announcement of the tournament's commencement by Carl Griffiths (more later), Shrewsbury Juniors came from behind to beat Levadia of Estonia 4-2 in a commanding and spirited victory in the tournament's showpiece opener.

What cannot be ignored, when discussing events such as the 2008 Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament, is the sheer scale of the off-the-field operation that gives the experience both its momentum and its seamless organisation.

It's worth exploring this theme for a moment. For example, the programme one collects entering the doors of the Sports Village has faced up to several hours of editorial scrutiny, further hours of debate over the inclusion and arrangements of photographs, and minutes upon minutes of businesslike and focused negotiation with potential advertisers, sponsors and marketing representatives.

The merchandise purchased in the tournament shop has been delicately designed, tirelessly transported and then carefully priced to best cater for the needs of visitors, participants and enthusiasts alike. That PA on which you hear music, announcements and speeches has been carefully wired, tested, rewired, retested and then constantly maintained to bring visitors the very latest tournament news and the excitement of the splendid sporting action going on around them. It is sometimes easy to forget when attending such a spectacle that hundreds of hours of planning and preparation are what has yielded the flawless execution of the finished article.

An expected 140 teams will grace this year's event, with an estimated 3,000 participants playing in front of a projected 10,000 visitors. If we leave aside the plethora of teams from Mexico to Manchester and from Buenos Aires to Barnsley for one moment, this year's spectacle offers numerous attractions off the pitch too: for example, tomorrow will see Andy Baker, of the Shrewsbury Town Girls Centre of Excellence, giving coaching sessions.

From Tuesday until finals day, a Soccasmarts skills test will operate from 11am until 5pm. Wednesday and Thursday will see the appearance of Dermot Gallagher at the tournament, Gallagher being an ex-Premiership referee and a FIFA-listed official of the very highest order and commanding the very greatest of respect.

My role, as I'm sure you've gathered from my scribbles, is the Media and Communications Director of Soccer Destinations, the team running the Shrewsbury International Soccer Tournament. My primary objective is to design, write and edit the daily tournament newspaper, The Village News, meaning a heavy emphasis is placed upon liaison with photographers, players and coaches throughout the paper's production process.

Concurrently, my position also demands communication and contact with local press and local media outlets, 大象传媒 Shropshire website and 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire included. My work began several weeks ago, when I began making contact with newspapers, radio stations and websites to raise initial awareness about the tournament's aims, its competitions and the benefits it brings to Shrewsbury and the wider county of Shropshire.

Today, as a result of preparatory work I've undertaken in the run-up to the event, I had the pleasure of meeting the engagingly effervescent Helen Murray from 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire. Helen arrived at the tournament to record interviews with the event's key staff, visiting players, visiting coaches, and even a few members of the professional footballing fraternity.

With Helen, I today met and interviewed - Estonians and Americans aside - Carl Griffiths, former Shrewsbury Town and Manchester City striker, and Mike Smith, twice Wales manager and once Egyptian national coach. It is without doubt both exciting and educational for a football connoisseur like me to meet and talk with such characters about a shared passion, a shared love for a sport that - this week - will serve to unite dozens and dozens of nationalities and cultures in Shrewsbury.

The players showcased this week will develop on a sporting level, they'll learn the principles of fair play, of respect for an opponent, and how to deal with triumph and disaster (and, in the words of Rudyard Kipling, learn how to treat those two impostors just the same). They'll also develop on a cultural level, engaging with footballers from different counties, different countries, or even different continents. Like Camus many years before them, they will be learning, and they won't even realise it.

• Next

• Previous
• Next

• Previous
• Next

• Previous
• Next

• Previous