The Gibraltan club providing a refuge for the released

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  • It’s been an eventful summer for Gibraltar, the tiny British Overseas Territory in southern Spain. First came the Brexit referendum, with 96 percent of residents who voted remain now left wondering what the future holds. Then, domestic football champions Lincoln Red Imps stunned Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic with a 1-0 Champions League qualifying victory on home soil.

    Although the latter was followed by a 3-0 away defeat and exit from Europe’s elite competition, it put the spotlight temporarily on Gibraltarian football. John Gontier, owner of the Gibraltar Premier Division’s newest club, Europa Point FC, is hoping that it proves to be more than just 15 minutes of fame.

    As part of Watford’s youth team in the early 1980s, Gontier shared a pitch with a gifted winger by the name of John Barnes. Like most teenagers, both players had dreams of making it as a professional footballer. But their careers took divergent paths. While Barnes became a global star, first at Watford and then Liverpool, Gontier was released. He plummeted down the football pyramid and eventually fell out of the game.

    His story is as common now as it was in the 1980s, every season the hopes of thousands of wannabe pros are dashed by clubs the world over. That is why Gontier set up Europa Point FC, a club dedicated to offering released players a second chance.

    Having previously worked for League Football Education (LFE) – a partnership set up by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and the English Football League – Gontier helped place young English players at lower tier Spanish clubs including Cadiz, Federico Mayo and Cordoba.

    From the age of eight they have been told they will be big stars and  earn millions. They give  their lives to football and then football puts them out and the street.

    But in 2014 he took things a step further, forming a club that was to be built on the promise of redemption for those who still wanted to have a career in football.

    Since then, Europa Point FC has become a refuge for the released.

    “I know how it feels for these boys,” Gontier tells Sport360. “Watford let me go at the age of 19. And in several years working with the LFE, I saw how players became depressed because they had been released.

    “From the age of eight they have been told by everybody around them that they will be really big stars and they see that footballers earn millions.They give all their lives to football and then football suddenly puts them out and the street.

    “We are creating a world of frustrated young men – thousands of them every year. I think big clubs would be better off having four youth teams instead of 10, then it would stop this bottleneck happening at 18. Football is destroying the lives of these lads who are left with nowhere to go.”

    GIBRALTAR FACTFILE

    • Gibraltar joined UEFA in 2013, 118 years after its FA formed
    • Gibraltar play Greece, Belgium, Estonia & Cyprus in 2018 World Cup qualifying
    • Lincoln Red Imps are Gibraltar's most successful club with 22 league titles

    Gontier is trying to make Gibraltar that place to go. There are no contracts worth millions but sun, sand, and the promise of regular football is an attractive proposition.

    “I’ve encountered many players and initially it seems that they don’t even want to live after being released. They come here and then of course the weather is good, so that helps a little bit.

    “There are only released players here. From English clubs, Spanish clubs, Gibraltarian clubs. Other players want to join, too. There have been some really talented lads in Gibraltar who have wanted to come to us but I have to say, ‘no, sorry – but if your club releases you and you are not getting a chance, we will be here to give you that chance.’”

    There is an extra special carrot being dangled in front of prospective players, too. With Europa Point FC recently promoted to Gibraltar’s Premier League, the opportunity to play Champions League is feasibly the stuff of reality rather than reverie.

    “We were two matches away from qualifying for the Europa League through the Cup in our first season, and now we are a top-flight team. When we win the league, and I’m confident it is a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’, we will play in the Champions League qualifiers. Lincoln Red Imps received €500,000 when they got knocked out. If they’d got through to the play-offs it would have been €3 million!

    “I’m looking for investors and I’m telling them, I guarantee that if in four years time we haven’t qualified for the Champions League, you can get your money back. I’m so confident that we will succeed.”

    It’s a bold claim for a newly promoted side and Gontier recognises that an adaptation of his philosophy is needed if he is to achieve such a lofty goal.

    “Young players are at the heart of Europa Point FC but in order to compete for trophies, we need more experience. Look at the Barcelona and Real Madrid B teams – they have the best young talent in the world but do you see them winning the Segunda every year? No, because they need experience.

    “Every successful team across any level of football has a good blend of youth and experience. We want some older guys to come and join us too. If they’re coming to the end of their career and have been let go, we are telling them to come to us and have the opportunity to play in the Champions League – something they won’t have done in 15 years if playing football.”

    Gontier’s approach to giving players a second chance is not a new one. In Andalusia, a three-hour drive away, sits a resort that was once used by the Glenn Hoddle Academy, set up by the former England and Tottenham managers. Hoddle’s academy was well-intentioned but, according to Gontier, poorly executed.

    “Ours is a similar concept to Glenn’s, yes. Though the difference comes in that they gave too much and we give too little really. When they started they were throwing money at the project and the lads who were coming over were living a great life in a five-star resort. Instead of giving them rice, he was giving them caviar.

    “Glenn thought that that his was the right way but I told him personally that I didn’t think it was the right way to do things. The lads playing for Europa Point FC are not pampered – they have to work, to pay for their own accommodation. We give them an allowance, of course, but it’s all about the football here – that’s the draw.”

    Sebastian Osei-Obengo is one such player who was lured by Europa Point’s philosophy and after a season demonstrating his ability in Gibraltar, the 22-year-old attacker secured his first professional contract at Scottish Championship side Dumbarton in March.

    “I lived in France when I was younger and was with Bastia SC but I left when I was a teenager,” Osei-Obengo explains to Sport360. “I was determined to make it as a professional footballer though and kept plugging away. I had trials at a lot of clubs, including Premier League ones, but never made it. Then I got the call about coming over to Gibraltar and decided to give it a go. I had nothing to lose.

    Sebastian

    Sebastian Osei-Obengo: Signed a pro contract with Dumbarton in March.

    “Things went really well and now I’m at Dumbarton, playing as a professional. I worked hard, trained at crazy hours and killed myself to get there, it means a lot. Europa Point FC really helped me – it’s thanks to them I’ve got to here and I really am grateful. They are helping players who really want to be helped and have great links to professional clubs – it’s a great approach.”

    Having the best players regularly depart may not seem a recipe for long-term success, but Gontier is convinced that the talent pool of released players is deep enough to replenish Europa Point’s squad each year. Importantly, it is helping that talent rather than winning trophies that really motivates Europa Point’s ambitious owner.

    “Yes we want to win things but more than that, we want to be a stepping stone for these players to get back into the bigger leagues and they know that. If our best player is wanted by another club tomorrow that is going to offer him a real future in the game, he can go. We want the players to progress. That’s what we’re all about.”

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