Standing tall, the well built athlete who’s a huge fan of Arsenal Football Club, has an impressive career. He has worked with local newspapers in his hometown covering intriguing issues like corruption.
Amos, diligently followed the football careers of his favorite players and remained honest to the game by playing it himself. Discussing his love for football and journalism, Amos spoke to The Week about his visit to Nepal.
Specialty about Richmond Mavericks Football Club.
The club was formed in 1998, a fairly new one, to encourage individuals those that loved football but couldn’t make it to the premier league, to not be disheartened. We started with a small team of passionate players and it’s hard to believe that 13 years have easily passed by.
In a year, we play 40 games and participate in 10 league matches. Our game season starts from August and ends in May.
Football in England is a religion. Every lad wants to become a professional footballer, but the competition is really tough. You’ve to be physically fit, injury free and good looking all in one; the criteria might intimidate people who love the sport dearly but can’t make it to a professional team.
At Richmond Mavericks, we have professionals from different backgrounds, who share a common fervor for the game.
What started as a way to fuel our interest has turned into a dream come true. Now, we’ve our own stadium and a good fan following.
Reason behind your team’s visit to Nepal.
Living in England it’s hard not to know about Nepal, the British Gurkha regiment and Mount Everest are very popular. I also happened to see an interview of Nepali journalist Kunda Dixit on BBC, which added to my interest.
I contacted Dixit, who referred me to nepa-laya. They arranged for us to come over and play with local teams. Although this trip had been meticulously planned last year, it was cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano. We lost our time and thankfully we could reschedule the visit for this year.
You also plan to train local youths in Nepal, has this been tried before?
Besides playing at home, we went on a tour to France in 2005 and played with three local French clubs there and then in 2007, we toured Sri Lanka. Both visits were very enriching. As a team we like to see that youths who share love for the sport have an opportunity to do so wherever
they live.
We like to see that they have the means to play the sport and be happy. If we can interact with local youths and teach them how we play football in England, it would be our privilege.
How do you juggle your time between journalism and football, i.e., between your profession and passion?
Although I would like to play more I can’t do so due to my professional priorities but I’m happy to be practicing journalism. After graduating in 2006, I worked for a number of local newspapers but always wanted to work for the BBC.
The opportunity came two years later. I’ve now worked with BBC radio and the work is satisfying.
Richmond Mavericks FC played against New Road Team (NRT) at APF Ground, Halchowk, Kathmandu on Thursday. On Saturday they will be playing against Rupandehi XI at the ANFA Academy Ground, Butwal and on May 16 and 19 against Kaski XI in Pokhara Stadium, Pokhara and APF in Kathmandu.