Paris: When Marlon King was convicted of sexual assault and actual bodily harm last week, many foreign players in the English Premier League would have derided his belief that excess is excused by celebrity status. Unlike the ex-Wigan striker, now behind bars for 18 months, there's a host of international imports in English football's top flight who know what it's like to be victims of violent crime.
Tottenham's Honduran midfield international Wilson Palacios almost gave up football after his youngest brother, 16-year-old Edwin, was kidnapped in October two years ago. His body was found in May this year despite a £125,000 ransom being paid. "I and my brothers were thinking of giving up football," he told The Times at the weekend. "The family comes first. But Edwin would have wanted me to keep on playing and my family had the same view," added Palacios, who is set to play a major role for his country in next year's World Cup finals.
Palacios, who moved to Spurs from Wigan for £14 million, admits that he is finding the tragedy easier to talk about as time moves on. "My brother is always in my thoughts and mind when I go out on the pitch, when I am training, when I am doing anything," said Palacios who intends to build a school in memory of his brother. "With the passage of time, it gets easier to deal with. Answering questions about him becomes easier than it used to be. But every night I go to sleep I have a quiet moment of reflection."
Manchester City's Brazilian superstar Robinho also considered giving up the game when his mother was kidnapped in November 2004 as she prepared a barbeque at their home. "The days she was missing were the worst," he said. "I can hardly describe how horrible it was. I could barely eat. I stopped playing football (he was playing for Santos at the time). "I wondered if my career was worth risking the safety of the people I love," added Robinho, whose mother had never wanted him to play soccer, but focus on his studies instead.
Over at Manchester United, Bulgarian star Dimitar Berbatov can also relate how crime came right up to his doorstep when he was still playing in his country. Aged just 18, but already displaying the striking talent for Levski Sofia that would first take him to Bayer Leverkusen, Spurs and United, he was kidnapped by thugs working for the chairman of league rivals Levski Kjustendi, who was determined to force him to sign for them.
The chairman, a gangster called Georgi Iliev, who was subsequently shot dead, was forced to release him when Berbatov's father Ivan intervened on his behalf. "It was an horrific ordeal," Berbatov told The Times.
Footballers based in South America have often been targetted by gangsters -- recently 12 members of a Colombian amateur team were kidnapped and 10 of them murdered. The most notorious example of a player falling victim to the criminal underworld was that of Colombian defender Andres Escobar, who was shot dead following his side's surprise first round exit at the 1994 World Cup finals. Colombia's fate -- and that of Escobar -- was sealed after his own goal allowed the United States to win 2-1. --AFP



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