RIO Ferdiand has become a huge hit in Uganda where he is promoting the Proline Soccer Academy initiative he has launched with his father, Julian.
And despite his glitzy image Ferdinand keen to help the young footballers of the impoverished African nation.
The highly-paid United ace has been perceived in some quarters as representing a lot that is wrong in modern football.
But no Reds player launches himself into unpublicised charity work and visits to local schools with more passion and obvious enjoyment that the Londoner.
He has been a high profile supporter of the Prince's Trust, has set up his own White Chalk Music label to help develop music careers for youngsters and in April helped launch a project that saw Premiership stars visit schools to warn of the dangers of gun culture in Britain.
Ferdinand has given a lot back and his latest off-field assignment is the Proline Soccer Academy in Uganda.
Talent
Rio's father spotted the untapped talent in the country with a 28m population and wanted to help the kids get an education and to help some realise their dream of becoming professional footballers.
The Ferdinands have enlisted the support of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who has offered free land for purpose built Academies.
Rio was allowed a rare visit to see the President in the State House in Nakasero whilst he has been on his three-day tour in Uganda, where Premier League action is popular TV viewing. An open-topped truck tour was greeted with incredible hysteria as thousands lined the streets of every village he passed through from the airport to the capital Kampala.
"If we brought United here I think there would be mayhem," said Ferdinand of his astonishing greeting from the Ugandans.
"There would be riots and stuff. If you saw what happened with just me here, can you imagine what would happen if all the other United players came over? They live and breath football here, they love it."
To that end Rio is hoping the Academies will unearth a new generation of African footballers.
Inspiration
"Players like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien at Chelsea, Emmanuel Adebayor, Emmanuel Eboue and Kolo Toure are shining lights for youngsters in a country like this," he added. "They are inspirational for them.
"I would like to see Uganda produce players like them in the future. I am certainly going to help develop the Ugandan kids because they have the talent. I will help the Academy.
"I have come here to help the kids. That's the most important, to give them skills and inspiration of becoming important people and not only in football but in life as well.
"It is two-fold. The kids won't be able to come to the Academy unless they are into school and go to school regularly. The Academy will have an affiliation with the schools in the area.
"We want to make sure the kids are attending school otherwise their football will suffer because they won't be able to attend the Academy.
"The important thing is the kids have to realise they might not become a footballer.
"There are few out of the thousand and thousands who try to become a footballer who actually make it. They have to have their education.
"It has been a very humbling experience out here. It is weird because we go into training sometimes and there is a little bit of mud and we wonder what is going on and we have a moan about it.
"But you go to training grounds here and the pitches are very bumpy. It really humbles you and you realise you have to appreciate what you do have.
"These young kids love playing football and if they can come and play on turf like at the Academy it would be a dream come true for them."
Rio has a grand vision
June 21, 2007
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It is great the work that Rio does. Is this also backed by
Nike, West Ham and Manchester United.
Does that mean they will have first call on the youngsters ?
We are very quick to judge people. Rio giving to poor Africans; who else has done that before, especially these days of greedy footballers who are often branded as mercenaries. The English Captain John Terry had people invited to his wedding paying for themselves and sold his wedding to OK! Magazine and spent most of his money on betting!
think MEN have been a bit harsh labelling rio all that is wrong with football or words to that effect! he is obviously doing a lot of good work! But beware you kids of uganda - give rio one opportunity and he will MERK you! :)
Nice to see MEN doing justice to the much and IMO unfairly maligned Rio.
To be fair Demo that is how he is perceived by much of the media and by a few of the posters on this site. And I think that is the point being made in the article. As I have said time and again I think he would be a good captain for us and his involvement in this kind of voluntary work are a good advertisement not just for Rio but also for United and should be recognised as such. IMO.
I'm sure Rio's heart is in the right place and I applaud the work he does for charity. But Rio for captain (Duncan, London)? No thankyou!
His lack of concentration is infamous on the football pitch, his lack of memory off the pitch cost us dearly a few years ago and his sense of humour (as seen on his TV pranks)leaves me totally cold. I'm not sure what's behind his judgement of Uganda's talent but their performance in the African Cup (qualified once in the last 25 years - and withdrew on that occasion!)suggests it remains very much untapped.
Don't get me wrong; I like the guy. He's a great defender, he's got dedication and heart but I don't think he's got the head to be Captain.
The most important thing for Rio to concentrate on at the moment is getting his groin sorted before the start of the season.
he was captain of leeds replacing radabea who is seen as a legend there. i think the responsability of captain would up his game. id like to see him as capo.
Rio was here and indeed the frenzy from fans some of whom were clearly Arsenal and Chelsea fans was great. I hope his experience here with the kind of support he saw will inspire more premiership 'gods' for descend into Kampala - Rio can testify to the food and disco halls.
I think he would be a better captain than Gazza who seems to go missing when the going gets tough. I believe the extra responsibility would help any minor concentration lapses that he has. Yeah sure he messed up at the drugs test and we and he paid a hefty price but I think this concentration lapse crap has been way overplayed and just because the tabloid media spouts and regurgitates it doesn't make it any more true.
If you want my honest opinion (heh even if you don't) I have seen as many or more concentration lapses from Neville and Heinze. The player that concentrates best is Vidic but even he has the odd moment. The reason Rio gets it the most is because the media likes to peddle the notion of Rio fitting a particular stereotype and that seems to sell papers.
Furthermore his charity work in Uganda and the Prince's trust does credit to him and our club so I stand by my assertion that Rio would make an excellent captain. IMO.
Just another atteampt by Rio to improve his awful image. Greedy sod.
Vidic made him look good last season, he carried him.
Duncan completly agree. Our defence has always been completley reliant on Rio. When he is not playing then we see how good he is. Even a mate of mine who is a big red and who I rarely disagree with said the other week that he thinks Rio isnt that good and that Carragher might be better !! I asked why he thought that was and he said whenever you see Carragher he is making last ditch tackles to prevent a goal !! You know what ? He is always making last ditch tackles whilst Rio rarely does. Now in Italy where they know how to defend they would understand that Rio can defend and Carragher cant read the game but in this Country even the so called experts rave about the likes of Carragher and Terry throwing themselves into last ditch tackles whilst Rio is a step ahead, sees the danger and gets there before the forward. Less in your face but more effective in that you dont concede a corner and usually he puts you back on the offensive. Not to worry I am sure that SAF and every other top manager knows how good Rio is. I would take Rio for captain over GNev any day. I like Neville but he is the worst full time skipper we have had for years. Keane/Cantona/Robson.
Ah David Kelly you finally negotiated the registration on the "new" format MEN website so you can give us your insightful view of the footballing world. Still completely disagree with absolutely everything you have to say but there you go. I take it you are singling out Rio for being a greedy premiership footballer?
Cheers Lee - I get fed up with the tabloid view of football in this country. Worse still it seems to feed the national game. It doesn't surprise me that England haven't won anything in the last 40 years. Its all about the hype.
Kudos to Rio and his Dad for their involvement in this work but it is tied to his links with West Ham. manc abroad, OT......I'm not sure how much United would benefit.
I found this on an African web site
"Kids always want someone to look up to. When young I used to look up to the coaches and since this academy is in close association with the West Ham academy, I will do my best to ensure that the West Ham coaches come here and take these coaches through some drills," offered Ferdinand.
Good for him. Give back to the world after all he's recieved. Maybe United will find the a star in the making in Rio's academy.
Yo Rio u is a dutty mc yo yer big...brappp(or some other gangsta garbage...)LOVIN IT!!
duncan i agree with you mate by and large our football is overhyped. the england national team will never ever win a major tournament again. our football team is going to experience major problems because of the sheer volume of overseas players in our game young english players are being excluded.. not that that bothers me as my abiding passion is only united. having said that we must keep the core of our team british
Agree Bobby. The problem isnt foreign players per say, its the numbers. It used to be a case that teams would go for really good foreign players to improve the first 11 which was fair enough. But its gradually swelled now to the point that squad players, the likes of whom used to consist of players brough through the ranks, or players snapped up from lower divisions, are now being replaced by cheap imports. This is denying the home grown players to chance to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder i.e. be in the squad.
birdy spot on you will get very few english based fans turning their nose up at the likes of henry cantona etc. but the pl is overladen with
dozens and dozens of mediocre and substandard foreigners. keep the cream and boot out the dross eu rules allowing.
It would be useful if he had some elocution lessons then I may be able to understand what he is talking about.
No Duncan I am singling him out for being the greediest premiership footballer. This is just a stunt to ingratiate himself with the United fans, but will it work.
Many ugandans lack financial support but what Ferdinard has shown and said,is a dream come true for many of the children in my country cause we've seen many give up due to lack of publicity,financial support more so lack of govt support for sports thank you for the light your giving my brothers
Lee and Duncan, totally agree about Rio's worth as a defender and he is key to the great reputation of our defence. As for captain, no way, please! I'm convinced that OH is being lined up for that job.
Some of you guys are harsh. Chapman he is a footballer not a Shakespearian actor.
David Kelly prove to me that he is any greedier than any other premiership footballer and I might even give your argument some credence. So you are saying that whatever charity work he does it won't be real because he's apparently trying to ingratiate himself with the United faithful? You think he really cares that much about a minority of misguided fans such as yourself? Get a grip man.
To recap, the press decide to pick on one premiership footballer negotiating a contract extension for dubious non football related reasons and you swallow their diatribe hook, line and sinker for some strange probably non football related reason.