Africa is a Country

We know Bob Marley loved football. British football mag FourFourTwo just published a profile of Bob Marley’s obsession with the beautiful game that will feed that myth. Marley is quoted as once saying: “Football is freedom, a whole universe. Me love it because you have to be skillful to play it.” The article details, among others, Marley’s close relationship to Allan ‘Skilly’ Cole, probably Jamaica’s greatest footballer of the late 1960s and early 1970s (Cole, btw, was kicked off the last team he played for before his retirement because of ‘his Rastafarian lifestyle habits’). The article detailsMarley’s divided loyalties between his support and his Brazil and his admiration of the Argentinian footballer Ossie Ardiles. It also touches on Marley’s insistence on access to a football pitch as part of his “demands” when on tour. However, the most interesting part concerns the quality of Marley’s actual football skils. On that the writer can’t come to any definite conclusion. First, the article quotes Trevor Wyatt, the UK distributor for Island Records (Marley’s record label) who saw him play in pick-up games for Marley around West London:

Trying to get the ball off him … was just hopeless. Because Bob was the person he was, the ball always came to him. He was the midfield general, if you like, and they called him Skipper. They were so good, it was like playing Brazil

On the other hand Mauricio Valladares, a Brazilian photographer, present at a game between Marley’s band and a team of past Brazilian internationals (including Paulo Cesar a member of the great Brazil 1970 squad) claims:

The game was actually short. Everything was quick, thank God, because the game was horrible. Bob was really bad. He simply couldn’t play. From 1 to 10 I would give him 1.5.

You decide.