Rio Ferdinand--Five Star--The Biography (14 page)

Meanwhile racism continued at football matches. Around this time Rio was deeply angered when he went to watch a match with a white friend. ‘After about 20 minutes a white player was injured in a tackle with a black player. This bloke sat in front of me in the stands then started screaming, “You black this and you black that. Go back to where you came from.”

‘I sat there thinking, Where is this bloke coming from? What is this geezer on? And I remember my friend being
really embarrassed. Then I thought, No, I can’t have all this, and turned round to a policeman who was standing nearby. I asked him if he was going to do anything about it, but he just shrugged his shoulders to indicate there was nothing he could do.

‘Then the racist abuse from this so-called fan started again just before half-time and the bloke turned to me and said, “Not you, mate, you’re okay. It’s just those on the pitch.” I just thought, You stupid idiot. I just wanted to punch him, but I thought, No, I’m not descending to your level, so instead I walked out. Looking back, that was the best thing I could do.’

But Rio did have some words of encouragement for numerous up-and-coming Asian players. ‘They are at the same stage of the cycle that black players were at 20 years ago. If Asian boys want to play football they’ve got to know there is a place for them in the English game. There are a lot of Asian leagues but I don’t think there should be separate ethnic leagues. I think there should just be football leagues so scouts can see everybody playing, rather than segregating them.’

As Garrett Mullan, co-ordinator of Show Racism the Red Card, explained: ‘Racism is like a cancer. If it is allowed to spread then it becomes more difficult to remove. That is why our campaign is important. Footballers are role models for young people and if they are leading a campaign against racism in football then this will assist education against racism in society. We want all schools, youth and community groups to order our video to spread the message as wide as possible.’

In Peckham there had even been arrests in the hunt for little Damilola Taylor’s killers. It seemed as if the perpetrators were at last going to be brought to justice.

T
he FA Cup third-round tie between Cardiff and Leeds at Ninian Park in January 2002 proved yet another turning point in Rio’s career. The game itself was a disaster for the Premiership side, but, more importantly, it ended in scenes of crowd trouble that shocked the footballing establishment. And for Leeds boss David O’Leary it was the moment when his career at Elland Road began to slide backwards.

The trouble began when, towards the end of the second half, Cardiff’s owner, Sam Hammam, set off on a walk which took him to a place behind the Leeds goal. He raised the temperature by urging the home crowd, but at the same time was seen to incite the away supporters to throw missiles in his direction. It was bedlam. But then he stoked things up even more by claiming that his club were superior to Leeds and tried to turn the tie into Wales versus England. At the end of the 1–0 victory to the home side,
police had to use batons and dogs to force back hundreds of Cardiff fans who’d gathered next to the away section. Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale was forced to pull O’Leary away from Hammam.

The Leeds players were stunned by the way in which Cardiff fans were permitted to swarm on to the pitch just seconds after the final whistle. Hammam insisted the supporters were entirely justified to celebrate this famous giant-killing act. But O’Leary commented: ‘I just thank God my chairman does not do what he does.’

Rio watched all the crowd trouble with bemusement. The result was a disaster for Leeds’ season and he was starting to wonder how much longer he could stay at a club that promised so much but delivered so little.

Then, following that controversial FA Cup defeat against Cardiff, Rio joined a long list of Leeds players needing treatment for injuries. He was told he’d definitely miss the top-of-the-table clash with Newcastle plus a home clash with Arsenal the following Sunday. But he was hopeful he might recover in time to face Chelsea and Liverpool.

On 3 February 2002 Leeds intended to teach a few lessons to the mighty Liverpool, who were suffering from a dreadful loss of form which had resulted in nine consecutive winless League games during a stretch lasting from 12 December to 19 January.

But Leeds were smashed 4–0 at Elland Road and looked dejected as they left the pitch. Having lead the Premiership at the turn of the year, they now seemed to be in free fall. Since beating West Ham 3–0 on New Year’s Day, they had lost three games and drawn once, not a good record as the season shifted into fourth gear. Rio’s old U-21 colleague Emile Heskey of Liverpool ran rings round the Leeds back
three as he notched up a brace in the second half of that Elland Road match. And to make matters even worse for Rio, he knocked the ball into his own net after he clipped a bending free kick from Danny Murphy.

When Leeds were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Feyenoord in the fourth round, the team seemed to be suffering from the biggest loss of form since O’Leary had taken over from George Graham nearly four years earlier.

But there was one statistic Rio had good reason to be proud of: by the end of February 2002 he had not been booked for an astonishing 76 League games. He explained this away by pointing out that he preferred to show his skills than his studs to opponents. ‘I don’t go out to hurt someone. I only ever get booked for dissent and usually all I get is a warning like, “Any more of that and you’re booked.” A few refs can take it, some can’t. As a captain, I get a bit more leeway.’

Rio had no inclination to show aggression either on or off the field. He’d survived on the Friary Estate by walking away from aggravation. Now he was applying the same principles to the football field. Rio preferred performing all the trickery: the nimble moves, the neat back heels. As he explained: ‘Around where I lived, everyone was trying to be Alessandro del Piero or George Weah or do the type of tricks that Dwight Yorke does.’

In some ways Rio still longed to have the number 10 on his shirt: ‘Playing just behind two strikers, trying tricks.’ He still used to play his video of George Best highlights over and over again, focusing on some of his most outrageous tricks. Rio had never forgotten the day he played up front for West Ham in a testimonial and scored one goal and set up another. Even when he played so-called ‘fun’ games at Leeds in training he’d go straight up front.

Off the pitch, Rio had finally matured into a genuine role model. ‘We’re being paid a lot of money to do something we really enjoy and, for 15 years out of my life, I have to make sacrifices to achieve things. It’s taken me a while to realise that. Things like not going out on Friday night or having a laugh at my mates’ houses until the early hours of the morning, even if it’s a Monday. I don’t do that now. I stay in and watch any kind of football, or talk shows like
Jerry Springer.
I’m not a saint. I do go out and have meals but I don’t come in at all hours.’

Rio was careful not to refer to his live-in girlfriend Rebecca Ellison because he didn’t want to expose her to the sort of publicity nightmares he’d faced over the previous three or four years. But the new, more settled Rio had definitely developed more of a social conscience. He felt strongly that there needed to be more facilities for kids on estates like the Friary. He never forgot how his mum encouraged him to go to the council-run adventure playground on the estate knowing there were volunteers working there from 10.30 am to 5 pm every day. ‘Kids need that sort of thing to stay off the streets,’ he explained.

Rio remained determined never to forget his roots. In the spring of 2002 he spent time with the 9-year-old son of a friend called Charlie Sauvoury, who suffered from acute asthma. He managed, as usual, to make the entire family feel he had a special connection to them. Afterwards he raced back to his mum’s house in Mottingham for some of her finest home-made cooking. As Kate Goodwin, wife of Rio’s schoolboy coach Dave, commented: ‘He is still the hungry little boy he was when he first walked through my door.’

Rio was the principal organiser of Leeds United’s £50,000 sponsorship of 10 runners, whose hard-sweated earnings
would be shared between the Outward Bound Trust and the Damilola Taylor Trust. ‘I have tried to do as much as possible for the Damilola charity,’ Rio said, adding, as he’d sought to emphasise often before: ‘But this kind of tragedy has been happening for a long time on the streets where I was brought up. Not always incidents of kids dying, admittedly, but certainly kids getting stabbed and people getting shot. It is not a nice thing to say but that has all been part and parcel of living down there. Damilola’s death has simply put it under more scrutiny. Now action, money and Government intervention is needed.’

Then, on 25 April, came the shock news that two teenage brothers accused of the murder of Damilola Taylor had been acquitted on all charges, including murder, manslaughter and assault with intent to rob. The court’s decision left Damilola’s parents and many on the Friary Estate deeply shocked. Rio made another visit to Peckham just after the Old Bailey decision and was angered to find that many of the old problems on the estate had returned with a vengeance, despite a period of calm following the murder of Damilola.

Rio was given ample recognition for his work in the community when the local council granted him the Freedom of the Borough of Southwark. He received a scroll which he fully intended to hang on the wall of his lounge. He would also be invited to all ceremonial occasions in the borough.

Meanwhile the ‘other’ Rio still managed to find time to enjoy the good things in life. He now lived with Rebecca in one of the smartest villages in Yorkshire and ferried himself to training in the snug-fit cockpit of a brand-new £120,000 dark-blue Ferrari. Rio also owned a top-of-the-range Jaguar and a Range Rover and dined at the best restaurants. He
wore even more designer clothes, Gucci T-shirts, Victor Victoria cargo pants, discreetly accessorised with a Patrick Cox Wannabe belt, and of course a hefty gold Rolex on his wrist. It was all such a far cry from those humble beginnings in Peckham.

‘I often think how fortunate I am,’ he recalled. ‘The other day I was walking round Covent Garden with my friends and there was this guy sitting on the pavement begging for money. It just hit me right there and then how lucky I’ve been – that I didn’t have to go down the wrong road, that I had given talents. But I’ve had to work hard to get where I am and, luckily, I’ve had the right people around me and the determination to do something positive.’

Even Rio’s dad was now thriving, having successfully built up a fashionware business. Julian had remained a big part of Rio’s life and attended many of his matches. He also escorted Rio’s younger brother, Anton, to and from the youngster’s coaching sessions at West Ham.

What should have been a night to remember for Rio when a special Leeds United dinner was held in his honour turned into a disaster as stand-up comedian Stan Boardman told a string of racist jokes. Boardman even cracked a tasteless gag about the assault on the Asian student for which Bowyer and Woodgate had stood trial.

Rio and many of his friends and family who attended the dinner were appalled. Leeds later insisted they had no idea that Boardman was planning to tell a racist type of joke. A spokesman for the campaign against racism in football said: ‘It was deeply insensitive. Someone at the club messed up.’

Rio refused to comment about the furore that followed publication of what Boardman said, but must have
wondered if his future still lay at Leeds United. One friend explained: ‘Rio was very upset by Boardman’s remarks and he couldn’t understand how Leeds could have booked him.’

Then Leeds lost 1–0 to Fulham on 20 April, which killed off any hopes of the club qualifying for the Champions League. Their season was basically over. Thank goodness Rio still had the World Cup to look forward to.

Just before the end of the 2001–2 season, Rio was reported to have met a beautiful singer called Roberta Whitney in a London club. His live-in love, Rebecca Ellison, remained back at his home in Wetherby. One newspaper reported that Roberta told friends she did not go out with men already involved with other women. She explained: ‘I don’t really want to talk about Rio at the moment. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend when I gave him my number.’

Rio’s place in the squad for the 2002 World Cup was already assured as he’d been in all Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England teams to date. But there were some other genuine surprises when the 23-man squad was announced in May. Included were midfielders Joe Cole of West Ham and Owen Hargreaves of Bayern Munich. With typical understatement, Eriksson told reporters: ‘We have some difficult matches but an extremely exciting time ahead of us.’

Alongside Rio and the many other youngsters named in the squad, there were also some highly experienced players, including Arsenal’s central defender Martin Keown, who won a place ahead of Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher and 36-year-old Teddy Sheringham. The squad broadly reflected the strength of England’s top clubs, with champions Arsenal and Manchester United supplying four players each and Liverpool three, including strikers Michael Owen and
Emile Heskey. Despite Leeds’ disappointing season, they still provided Rio plus three others. Only 10 of the squad, Rio among them, survived from England’s 1998 World Cup campaign in France.

Every pundit recognised that Rio was part of a first-choice defensive pairing with Sol Campbell. Gareth Southgate and Martin Keown were second-string alternatives. Eriksson’s faith in youth meant that the squad had an average age of 26.3, and 25.1 among the outfield players.

Convinced that his former West Ham teammate Joe Cole would be the surprise package of the World Cup, Rio told one journalist: ‘Some people might think he’s just going along for the ride but he could have a big part to play. Joe’s someone who can change a game in an instant and I think he’s come on a lot in the last year. He knows when to play the right ball into the box now instead of messing around and beating a man just for the hell of it.’

Rio had never forgotten watching Cole’s development when they were at West Ham together. ‘I remember the day he joined the first-team squad for training. I knew a lot about him but watching him that day was amazing. We played a two-touch game and he scored a hat-trick.’

A few months later Rio had even watched Cole in a West Ham reserves match against Southend United. ‘Joe got the ball and did a trick which I cannot even describe – except to say I’ve only seen it once before, by Ossie Ardiles in the film
Escape to Victory.
It was astonishing stuff and I screamed out laughing. He’s so skilful it’s frightening.’

Rio and Cole had kept in close touch since their days together at West Ham and both were obsessed with the beautiful game. As Rio later explained: ‘When he’s not playing it he’s watching it like me, studying skills and wanting to learn and try something new.’

Just before the squad departed for Japan, Rio was told by Sven-Goran Eriksson that he would lead the team in the World Cup Finals if David Beckham didn’t return to fitness in time following his much-publicised foot injury. Eriksson believed that Rio had already proved his leadership qualities while skippering Leeds.

Rio was bewildered by the enormous public reaction to Beckham’s injury. It seemed to be on every front page for weeks. ‘When I saw Becks go down, it made my heart jump. It was a scary moment for any of us hoping to go to the World Cup. You had to feel desperately sorry for him. We know we work in a risk business and sometimes the odds catch up with you but you have to think there is more in the world, surely, than having an injured footballer filling the front pages and TV bulletins. With all due respect to David, he should be in the sports section. It’s been madness, hysteria really, and Becks wouldn’t want all this attention. You think of the Israeli issue, global disasters and people dying, and you know where football should be placed.’

As the England squad arrived at their base camp in the Far East, stories about Rio leaving Leeds started to surface in the UK. Rio even admitted to the Sun: ‘You are always flattered when big clubs are interested in you.’ The club in question was undoubtedly Manchester United and they’d already tabled a £20 million offer. Leeds’ financial problems and their failure to qualify for the following season’s Champions League ensured that the big boys were now circling the club like vultures.