Stop criticism says Robbie Slater and climb aboard the Bolt Train
LET’S all celebrate Usain Bolt signing on with Central Coast Mariners and ignore the naysayers, writes former Socceroo Robbie Slater.
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MEMO football fans across Australia: Get on board the Usain Bolt bandwagon, because it’s filling up quickly.
For once we have a genuinely exciting story to celebrate, a legend of world sport who wants to play in the A-League.
The news he was keen to join the Central Coast Mariners was on the front page of The Daily Telegraph last month, and his confirmation on Wednesday made back page news.
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But already the naysayers are taking potshots, saying it’s a circus that does nothing but degrade the name of the A-League.
Whether it’s jealousy, snobbishness or just stubbornness, it’s the type of attitude that harms our game.
We’ve got a good competition but when we have a chance to promote it so many people automatically turn negative.
There’s plenty of things to criticise at the moment — the FFA’s congress battle springs to mind — but Usain Bolt’s arrival on Saturday isn’t one of them.
The Mariners are very mindful of the critics, and have been at pains to downplay Bolt’s role, saying he’s just another player, and telling us that they won’t be rolling out any merchandise.
I say forget the critics.
We’ve got the fastest man in history keen to test himself in our league, and every move he makes will be recorded, written about and analysed.
Every story will mention the Mariners and the Hyundai A-League.
Those two organisations have to realise the opportunity they have in front of them.
I’ve been critical of the game’s marketing department in the past, now is the chance to show everyone how we can promote a good story.
Embrace it. Shout it from the rooftops. Print the T-shirts: I saw Bolt.
The Mariners averaged around 8000 fans last season — you could get that many for a trial featuring Bolt flying down a wing.
And if he makes the squad, well, for starters we’ll forever settle the debate of the fastest player to compete on our shores.
Combined with Melbourne Victory signing Japanese star Keisuke Honda and it’s been a great week for the A-League.
One of the criticisms of this indefinite trial is the argument Bolt will take the place of a young player.
If we’re going to go down that line I can think of plenty of foreigners who have played poorly or sat on the bench while young players missed out. That’s what we should talk about, not a guy who will bring in sponsorship dollars from places you can only dream of.
Certainly in Bolt’s mind, this is no Mickey Mouse exercise.
He’s already trained with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, Mamelodi Sundowns FC in South Africa, and Stromsgodset in Norway.
It’s a dream of his, so why deny him a chance to trial.
And no disrespect to the Mariners, but if he wanted to pull off a publicity stunt there’s a lot of places other than Gosford where he could have headed.
Bring it on.
