Homeless World Cup captures Cantona on free transfer
Posted by Foyer Federation - 02/08/2007
After the great training session yesterday, Cantona paid a visit to the players’ lounge at the Dan Hostel so that they could ask him a few questions.
He was accompanied by Mel Young who introduced him, like he needed one! Some of the questions were lost in translation, but everyone from all countries chipped in so that they could be heard. When asked if he thought the women in Copenhagen were beautiful, a smile spread across his face, “There’s only one woman I’ve been looking at here in Copenhagen" and nodded towards his wife who joined in the laughter that erupted around the room.
It was all very informal and relaxed, nothing like the frenzy on the pitch I had witnessed that morning. When asked what person in the world he admired most to which he replied “Me in the morning” and once again the room erupted.
Then a cheeky reporter screamed a question from behind me which killed the mood in the lounge “are you being paid to be here?”. You could see that he was offended as this was supposed to be a Q&A time for the players and coaching staff. He took the microphone from Mel: “You ask me if I’m being paid for this? What do you think? No." The journalist skulked away like a bad smell and as the air cleared the smile returned to Cantona’s face and he carried on answering questions. He even stayed on to sign more autographs and pose for pictures. Even I got in on the action - well he is Eric Cantona!
The next morning there was an official press conference for the media attended by Mel Young (Founder of the Homeless World Cup), David Duke (Scotland Coach), Kerry Godfrey (Nike CSR), Cheryl (A Player from the Australian team) and Nathan (A Player from the England team). Mel Young was the first to address the media he started by speaking of the magic surrounding the tournament, the teams and the players and again reiterated the point that there is no need for anyone to be homeless in this day and age he also thanked the reporters and film crews for covering the competition and reminded them that they are helping to spread the message of homelessness. Then what everyone was waiting for, Monsieur Cantona (I already knew from the day before in the players’ lounge what was coming) announced that he would become an ambassador for the Homeless World Cup, I asked him if he would try and get some of his footballer friends involved “im sure that I can find a few players to come along in the future I will do my best”. Natalie –Jane Teese from the Eastbourne Foyer asked if he would attending every HWC from now on, “As long as I know about it before the dates and contacted by Mel I will find time to come, definitely”.
Don’t get me wrong it’s great to see someone like Eric Cantona lending his support to the HWC, but as someone else pointed out, half of the media present are only there because of Cantona, why can’t they cover it simply because it’s a great event for a good cause that’s trying to reshape and kick-start over 500 people’s lives while giving inspiration to millions of others, but I guess that would mean missing out on some drunken celebrity falling out a taxi.
David Gillespie
