Football Focus Issue 54 | Page 24

Corinthian Casuals FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/FOOTYFOCUSMAG do that anymore (try asking our players to step aside) but we do remain strictly amateur – a belief that a game of football is just that… a game. We try to teach all of our youth sides (players and parents) about playing to the Corinthian Spirit. We list a whole philosophy on our Youth website for those involved to get to know and hopefully adhere to. Our kids are taught that it’s not about how many goals we score or concede. It’s all about enjoying the game and, at the same time, learning and developing football and life skills.” The Modern Day “Of course, it’s not easy to retain our historical philosophy in the modern game. It’s a testament to our players that they manage to compete in a league where every other club (bar Guernsey) is semi-professional. How do we compete? We have a fantastic bunch of players who play for the right reasons… the love of competition. The result of this is we don’t attract the football mercenaries; the players chasing the money who couldn’t care about the club. We have one player who joined us at the start of the season, who jokingly admits he’s ‘played for every nonleague club’ but recently stated It’s not about earning that extra twenty quid with them. “One of the legacies of the Corinthians was that they took football around the world, spreading the Beautiful Game to all four corners of the globe” he’s never known a team unity and spirit like the one that exists at Corinthian-Casuals.” Visiting Brazil “One of the legacies of the Corinthians was that they took football around the world, spreading the Beautiful Game to all four corners of the globe and being instrumental in making it the global sport it is today. In 1910, we toured Brazil and one match inspired five local Railway workers to create their own football team in honour of the way Corinthians played. That club has since become one of the largest in South America: Corinthians Paulista – the two-time FIFA World Champions. In 1914, Corinthians were due to play the newly-formed Corinthians Paulista, but war broke out as Corinthians arrived in South America and had to return home. Sadly, all but one died on