اول لاعب سوداني في المنتخب الاسترالي

أول لاعب سوداني يجد طريقه الي المنتخب الاسترالي، ريتشارد ارو تم إختياره لتمثيل استراليا في منخبها تحت سن19 ، ومن المحتمل انضمامه لفريق الارسنال الانجليزي

مرفق الخبر من صحيفة الامباسادور الاسترالية







All packed for Arsenal


When English soccer talent scouts spotted young Sudanese refugee Richard Arow at a Melbourne sports clinic early this year, he skyrocketed from suburban soccer buff to international player.

Richard, 17, leaves this month with the Australian under-19 team to play at the elite Arsenal Soccer Tournament in the UK.

During the two-week competition and training camp he will meet other outstanding players from all over the world and receive intensive training in the sport he loves.

“It will be a challenge and a great experience,” he told the Ambassador. “Soccer has been my passion since I was a kid.”

After arriving as a refugee in Melbourne at age 12, Richard studied at Maribyrnong Secondary College then at St Paul’s College, where he is completing year 12.

His family in Newport and the community he has come to call home are supporting him all the way. One of five children, Richard told his mum soon after arriving in Melbourne that he wanted to join the Altona East soccer club.

“It was best doing that on the weekends rather than staying home and doing nothing,” he says.

Now his two younger brothers are starting to play the sport also.

“From when I was four or five years old I wanted to play soccer in Sudan, but there were no proper soccer fields or equipment. It’s much easier here.”

But those early years in Sudan must have paid provided the basic skills to build on as he developed his talent under the guidance of coaches in Australia.

He is looking forward to career in computers; meanwhile, soccer is the main thing on his mind as he packs his suitcase for Arsenal.

The first chapter of Richard’s journey in soccer was on the rough playing fields of Sudan, the second was at the Altona East Soccer Club, and the third is about to be written at Arsenal.