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Dear Daily Newspaper, My name is Kevin Sherriff I am the Financial Director of a company called M3CA which is a advertising agency who specialises in the ethnic communities and any group that is discriminated against. I went to the FA disability football conference that was held at the Manchester city stadium on the 14/12/04. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't Know that these Kids hold the world cup for football. They beat Brazil in 2002 six weeks after England was KO out of the world cup. I find it beyond belief that the media, TV, sports revues, and so on do not highlight how proud we as a nation are of these kids achievements. These kid have dreams and ambitions just like any other kids. There are clubs all over the UK who have no funding because the public at large are unaware they exist. I quote the disabled England captain, "Most young footballers dream of being the captain of there national football team. My dream came true." This young modest boy off 17/18 should have the recognition he truly deserves for captaining his country in this world class achievement. Someone asked the England disabled goalkeeper how he got be the disabled goalkeeper for the squad. He said, "It works like the football league and it's normal just like me I look normal. I have a normal brain and it's not until I speak that people think that I'm different." My heart went out to this young man, he must have suffered discrimination all his life and most of it through ignorance. As I was leaving the conference I saw the England goalkeeper David James shaking the hand of England's disabled goalkeeper. The look in the England's disabled goalkeepers eyes said it all. I was so proud of him as if he was one of my own children. The next disabled world cup is in Germany in 2006 where we will be defending our title. I have a few goals (for want of a better word) that I want to achieve for these kids. 1. To get them media coverage 2. To get them public awareness 3. To get them sponsorship 4. To get them the praise they don't crave for but they truly deserve so that when the next world cup is played in 2006 there will be some coverage for our disabled kids. Yours, Kevin Sherriff If you would like to submit your opinion to Daily Newspaper please submit here. We will read all letters but we cannot always guarantee inclusion. |