Posted on September 18, 2011
By O’Jay Burgess
TropiGol.com Writer
A person who deserts one party or cause in order to join an opposing one. (Noun).
According to the English dictionary this the definition of a turncoat. Turncoat for me has always held a sinister meaning. He is a traitor, like Brutus who stuck knife in Caesar or those Americans who stood with the British crown in the wake of the American Revolution.
This notion of turncoats, men switching crest for their own benefit belongs to a time of the Old World and their old wars. It is a selfish term and nowhere is this sort of behavior seen in our modern world than in the galaxy of sport.
Soccer is infamous for switching allegiances. Luis Figo from FC Barcelona to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City from Manchester United.
But that’s not being a turncoat to me, that is being a mercenary more than anything. Figo is Portuguese and Tevez an Argentine outside of a check they have no connection to the clubs involved.
For me a turncoat is a man who turned his back on his country of birth. The Decos and the Owen Hargreaves of the world but is it okay to switch nations, is it fair and does it go both ways?
The scenario is never the same but here is one I have always looked at with great pain for the losing party mainly because she is a CONCACAF neighbor. I really do pity Suriname of all other countries, when it comes to soccer it is the equivalent of brain drain. Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Toronto FC head coach Aron Winter, Jimmie Floyd Hasselbaink and Edson Braafheid are all Surinamese. Imagine if they had just stayed and helped. United States and Mexico would have lobbied out of fear just for Suriname to be moved to CONEMBOL but these players made they choice and sided the Dutch.
Because of this Surinamese blood, the Dutch has became the powerhouse today. Patrick Kluivert, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Eljero Elia and Ryan Babel all could have chose the Suriname the nation of their ancestors but they didn’t and now Suriname languishes near the bottom of world rankings. These players in all respect to the South American nation are and were too great for the yellow star of Suriname but it works inversely.
I am a Barbados supporter and the fact of the matter is, the nation’s homegrown talent is not equipped to challenge for a World Cup birth, which saddens me to say but there is hope. It is the descendants of my countrymen who will, I hope fire my country forward.
Emmerson Boyce is Wigan’s center half and Paul Ifill of New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix are English but suit up for the Tridents. Their dream was to play internationally but would Boyce ever dislodge John Terry, Rio Ferdinand or Gary Cahill or can Ifill ever earn a place on the wing over the likes of Ashley Young? That is an emphatic no.
Chris Brichall should thank Trinidad & Tobago for those World Cup appearances because you don’t get call up from the English FA for playing for Port Vale FC in the lower leagues of England. Jermaine Jones plays for the United States midfield and he would find it hard press to get into the German national set up. All these players I mention and they are more all over the world are not good enough to play for their country of birth and I understand I rather be a god of the poor than be the servant of the rich.
It is not a very easy situation. Could Mozambique offer the life that Portugal gave Eusebio or would England love and appreciate Chris Birchall like how Trinidad has I don’t think so.
All those Surinamese players who played for the Dutch, one would have to argue whether would they have become the players they became if they didn’t turn “Oranje.”
Turncoat has always meant for me an act of betrayal. But not giving yourself the best chance in life is to me betraying yourself and that is unacceptable and many players simply want a glory that the borders that birth them could never offer.
Ageless Clarence Seedorf was born in Suriname, but played internationally for the Netherlands. Andy Mead/YcJ
Categories: Caribbean, Guest Writer, My Two Cents, Suriname
Tags: Aron Winter, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Edson Braafheid, Eljero Elia, Frank Rijkaard, Jimmie Floyd Hasselbaink, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud Gullit, Ryan Babel
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