da jogodeouro： It’s not often in football journalism you hear a good story about a fan, nor a good story about a manager who has done something nice for a fan. The reason for this is because this type of news is usually known to be mundane, not outlandish, it doesn’t cross the border of ‘against the norm’. There is the usual cliché saying that ‘no news is good news’, however in this instance, the journey of Abel Rodriguez is a heart warming story that really should be broadcasted.
da brdice： Cleaner, Abel Rodriguez is a 41-year-old Mexican-American who waxes floors for Los Angeles Metro Transportation. For the past 7 years, every summer Rodriguez would take 2 weeks vacation to do voluntary support work at Real Madrid’s Pre-Season training camp in L.A. Everyday for those two weeks Rodriguez would wake up at 5am, leave his house in Fontana to prepare the training camp and help Mourinho with anything he and his staff would need. Rodriguez would then arrive back to his home at 11pm, where he would sleep and do it all over again the next day. Why? Quite simply because of his love for the game and of course he is a big Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho fan. Rodriguez had a dream, although he had never ventured into Europe he wanted to watch El Clasico in person at the Bernabau. With Mourinho looking likely to exit in the summer, Rodriguez realised that his last chance would be on 2nd March. However, it seemed inevitable that with a wife and 3 kids, the holiday fund Rodriguez had been saving wouldn’t be going towards this. That was until his wife and his eldest daughter told him to go, they knew how much this would mean to him. So he went, no tickets, no hotels but he managed to buy his flights and arrived in Madrid on the 28th February. Not really knowing where to go Rodriguez headed to Madrid’s training complex and was of course turned down and refused entry. With nothing else to do Rodriguez sat on a snow cover path and waited, he waited for 5 hours for nothing, as far as he knew. That was until Mourinho came driving past in the passenger seat of his assistant Rui Faria’s car
‘It was a miracle that I saw him, I saw Abel seated on the side of the road outside the training ground’ Said Mourinho ‘ I told Rui, stop! It’s the guy from the Los Angeles’
When Rodriguez explained the situation, Mourinho couldn’t believe it. Immediately he sorted Rodriguez out with a room in the teams hotel, superb tickets for the game and dinner with all the coaching staff the next night. Rodriguez witnessed Mardid beat Barcelona 2-1 and went to the dressing room after where he had his picture taken with Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina legend Diego Maradona. About to say his final farewells, Mourinho did not stop there. He hired Rodriguez on as kit staff and flew him to Manchester for the last 16 Champions league against United. Rodriguez at this point was not only crying with joy but was regarded as a lucky charm for the team. On the 5th March, Rodriguez walked out onto Old Trafford and represented Real Madrid as one of the team. Even his family and friends back home in L.A saw him walking off the pitch after the game had finished.
After the game he spoke to a variety of United and Madrid players and was at one with the team. The next day he flew back to Madrid and ever the hard worker, stayed behind to unload the kit.
Rodriguez still hasn’t managed to say thank you to Mourinho and this story being told is more than a way of doing that. What both Rodriguez and Mourinho showed here is a side of football that doesn’t get seen. This journey has not actually transformed a player or a manager’s life but a fan’s life. Not only that because as this story is told millions of fans across the world are touched and brought together by why football can be so rewarding. Even if you are not a fan of Mourinho you can’t help but immensely respect what he did for this man. Stories like this may happen all the time but just don’t get shared. It is important that we share and keep stories like this in our lives and football, because there is a lot more to it than just money.
Morale boosting stories such as this one can have a massive effect on footballers themselves. To know you play in a sport which can change someone’s life is hugely rewarding. Underlying this if you played for a manager who you knew did that your respect for him would go through the roof. If your respect for your manager isn’t already that is.
The reputation of football is one of greed and lack of effort, ‘a gentleman’s sport played by thugs’ some say. Only stories such as these can give off an impression that football really is much more than 90 minutes on a pitch. If stories like this are to be forever told, football’s light will shed a much more positive one. This could reflect massively among the youth. As role models footballers and managers alike should aptly demonstrate behaviours of correctness and times of magic only they might be able to make possible. Setting an example like Jose Mourinho will do wonders for the game and its reputation.