There is no doubt that Usain Bolt will forever be remembered as the worlds greatest ever sprinter, but Usain Bolt the football star will probably not be a sentence anyone will be saying anytime soon. The former gold medal Olympian had made it no secret during his sprinting career that he wanted to be a professional football player once he hung up his spikes. However, it seems that after a couple of months of preseason training with the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League the Bolt experiment (at least in Australia) is over.
On the 2nd of November Usain Bolt had parted ways with the Mariners after rejecting a contract offer reported to be around the $150,000 mark for a one season stint. There was talk around that Bolt’s agent Ricky Simms was asking an absurd $3 million a season contract. The deal obviously fell through and Bolt quit his trial in the A-League.
Bolt revealed that he didn’t think it would be that difficult to earn his spot on an A-League roster playing professional football saying, “is a bit harder” than what he originally anticipated. Bolt also said,
“We’ll see what happens. I think people are still contacting my agent now about opportunities, so we’ll see in which direction it goes.
“For me, I’ve learned that I still have it. I figure that I was improving a lot, so as you can see from the first game to the last game, I really improved and did better. I’ve learned that it’s a little bit harder, but it’s all about dedication and work with the team.”
His absence from the final squad came as no surprise to some people though with many Australian football commentators saying that Bolt was lacking commitment as well as basic skills needed for a professional football player.
Andy Keogh, who is a striker currently playing for the Perth Glory had previously criticised Bolt’s move to the A-League and had predicted that Bolt would not be able to make it telling reporters,
“He’s not going to be able to make it.
“He’s shown a bit (of potential) but it’s a little bit of a kick in the teeth to the professionals that are in the league”.
He also criticised his skills saying that Bolt has “a touch like a trampoline”.
While some see it as a loss for Australian football, in the end what has happened is probably for the best for all parties involved, with Mariners head coach Mike Mulvey keen to keep his focus on the season ahead with his contracted players. As expected he was hammered with questions about Bolt’s departure, Mulvey deflected all questions about the sprinter by reiterating the same point, “I’ll say this one more time my focus is on the game on Saturday and on the players contracted for the Central Coast Mariners and that is how it should be.” Honestly, the situation is probably another massive distraction that the players on the Central Coast Mariners don’t need. For Bolt, his professional football dream is going to have to go elsewhere. Either he needs to improve or he has to dramatically lower his price to play after knocking back both the free contract from rich Maltese club Valletta and the previously mentioned $150,000 offer from the Central Coast Mariners.
Bodie Edwards
Additional Links:
Original article – https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/former-irish-international-andy-keogh-slams-usain-bolt-for-having-a-touch-like-a-trampoline/news-story/e941319748e0aa999b156e8aa3b271b7
Additional article – https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/usain-bolts-humbling-aleague-admission/news-story/270ef7858567e560a44547bded0d206b
Bodie's Sport Blog 
Leave a comment