The Horn of Africa comes to the aid of the Apple Isle
Roar Pro
By Jesse Fink, 20 Mar 2009 Jesse Fink is a Roar Pro
You have to admire the chutzpah of the team behind Tasmania United. Tossing the name of Ethiopian billionaire Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi into the mix has been a PR masterstroke.
That $40,000 the Tasmanian government kicked in to a feasibility study wouldn’t even buy a column inch, but already the football media is abuzz with stories about this mystery investor, touted as the 43rd richest man in the world.
Beyond chutzpah, though, I’ve had some dealings with Tasmania United in a private capacity and have been impressed with their open-mindedness, something that other A-League teams have not been. I cannot say who, but I know for a fact they recently conducted meetings with a well-known foreign coach about bringing him to Tasmania and were serious in their intentions.
Amoudi’s name rang a bell with me and some Google sleuthing later I figured out why. Years ago Al Amoudi sponsored the CECAFA Cup, which pits nations from Central and East Africa together each year. For three years it was known as the Al Amoudi Senior Challenge Cup and Al-Amoudi put up $2 million of his own money to keep it going.
Al-Amoudi is renowned for his altruism with Ethiopian footballers. He has helped many financially and recently paid for the hospital costs of the leukaemia-stricken Ethiopia national-team goalkeeper Ali Redi.
His company, Midroc, also sponsors the club that won the Midroc-sponsored Ethiopian Premier League in 2008, Addis Ababa-based St George FC, which is coached by the Serb Milutin Sredojevic.
So he has a pedigree in the roundball world.
But how did he come by Tasmania?
Ken Morton, the well-travelled English-born director of football of Tasmania United FC and a junior player with Manchester United no less, coached in Ethiopia near on a decade ago, taking charge of Addis Ababa club EEPCO FC, the team of Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. It was there that he met the sheikh.
A handy person to meet, but that is what happens when you step out of your comfort zone and open your eyes up to what the world has to offer.
Fortune favours the brave.
What’s been most impressive to me, though, so far about Tasmania’s pitch to the A-League mandarins for that coveted 12th A-League licence has not been the promise of African millions but its stated wish to bring more African and Asian players to the A-League.
Morton has coached in Vietnam, Malaysia and Ethiopia, Amoudi has singlehandely propped up East African football for years off his own largesse, and other people involved behind the scenes with the consortium have extensive contacts in the region.
It augurs well for the success of the Tasmania United bid and the general prosperity of the A-League going forward.
Tassie might be a blip on an atlas but it’s thinking big. And thinking big is what it’s going to take to get this audacious bid over the line.
Good luck to it.
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jaymz said | March 20th 2009 @ 2:10am | Report comment
Jess i know your not going to reveal the coach, but i will its Afshin Ghotbi. How do i know, well you are a huge supporter of him (rightly so), A while back you also mentioned that one of the bidding franchises were interested in speaking with him, and on their website there is an article talking about an interview (that failed due to technical reasons) on hobart fm with him. I live in west sydney and i would really love a team out here, but if Tassie is trying to sign Ghotbi then he will bring alot of asian/gulf players and hopefully make the A-league the best in asia like he stated, on top of this Amoudi is richer than Roman Abramovich acording to Forbes. Well lets just say i would be happy to miss out for the sake of this bid, in the long term it is so much better for the game, and realistically its not a matter of if West sydney get a team, but when.
Cpaaa said | March 20th 2009 @ 7:19am | Report comment
well done on the detective work jaymz. these cats are just the sort of people needed to up the ante on the a-league.
never would i have thought, that little island close to antarctica would make a name for itself through football. Across Australia, Asia and who knows, perhaps the world. Already i can picture a report on Tasmania Utd on Futbol Mundial.
West Sydney might just have to starve a little longer.
StiflersMom said | March 20th 2009 @ 7:26am | Report comment
It’s all good to hear Jesse, I hope the FFA are seriously thinking of making it 14 teams becuase I’m sure their heart is already set on a 2nd Sydney team, so much so the bidders for that don’t need any PR.
Pippinu said | March 20th 2009 @ 8:30am | Report comment
The mouse that roared.
metalboxhead said | March 20th 2009 @ 9:32am | Report comment
This is all starting to make more sense now. A relationship with Tassie will give these African footballers (who are not as favoured as Nigerians or Ivorians) an opportunity to prove themselves in a Western league that’s scouted by European / Asian clubs. In exchange we get the $$$$. Works quite nicely.
Jesse Fink said | March 20th 2009 @ 9:55am | Report comment
Last I heard from Afshin Ghotbi he was being courted by club teams in Japan, Europe and the Middle East and he didn’t mention Tasmania to me in those discussions. But, hey, you never know.
Manfred the Milko said | March 20th 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
The Tassie bid is all BS … it is empty
Cpaaa said | March 20th 2009 @ 10:28am | Report comment
could not have said it simpler meathead. what taz will essentially become is what Gençlerbirligi does with our socceroos to Europe.
Howay the lads said | March 20th 2009 @ 11:02am | Report comment
Horn of Africa and Tassie Map is a good fit I would have thought
Brian Weekes said | March 20th 2009 @ 11:26am | Report comment
I was waiting for a Manfred to show up. Typical kind of comment you can come to expect from someone with a bad attitude against Tasmanians. One of them was on another site dribbling that we would only get 2000 in a paddock for a while and that would be all.
Funny how we get 8k + just to friendly matches. Those kind of people have never been to Tasmania, don’t ever want to, honestly believe they are better than Tasmanians and would like nothing better than to see Tasmania sink into the sea.
I myself, I come from New South Wales and have both lived and worked in Tasmania. I hope they do get a team and I would love to see it develop a strong rivalry with the Victorian clubs.
The fact is that it is good for football in Australia to see a Tasmanian team.