With Pato and Passport in your pocket – Ben Starosta: A Modern Footballer’s Tale

By All Blue Daze. 

One day, sitting in the office, I was chewing the fat over recent events in the football world with my colleague, Sull – nothing unusual about that. Sull lives in Nuneaton, and he was telling me about the triumphs and trials of his local club, Nuneaton Town. He was bemoaning the fact that The ‘Boro’, as the club are known due to a previous incarnation, had enjoyed a fairly successful season but had then lost their manager to Wrexham. The new man in charge was former Ayr United manager Brian Reid, who apparently had previously been managing in the Philippines. Being a football blogger, my interest was piqued as it sounded like it might be an interesting story to write about.

Casually dropping into research mode, I asked Sull a few further questions and found out that the club had also signed a player from Reid’s old club in the Philippines; someone who had been been a star of the Polish U20 team and had then travelled around world playing for various clubs before landing in the small Warwickshire town. By now I was becoming intrigued. Grabbing my ever-handy, trusty notebook and pencil like the seasoned hack I always envisaged I was, I made a few notes and planned how I could find out more.

Later that evening I logged on to have a chat with my all-knowing mate, Mr. Google. After a few searches, I discovered the player in question was a defender named Ben Starosta, and indeed there was a tale to tell. In an article from the ‘Nuneaton News’ I found the details to fill out what Sull had told me, and a small piece of news from the BBC relating the same thing. OK, so the bare bones of the story were there, but this was a tale as much about the man and his experiences, as it was about the game itself, so I needed a bit more first-hand insight. After further digging around, I found a way to get in touch with Ben and thought I’d chance my arm to see if he’d be interested in giving me an interview.

Many people receiving such an unsolicited message from an unknown source, wanting to ask questions about their life, may just have hit the ‘delete’ button, and who can blame them – especially when they’re on holiday, enjoying a bit of Greek sunshine. Fortunately, Ben’s approach was different, and because of his “Not a problem, mate. Happy to help,” approach I can tell you how a young man born in Sheffield managed to play international football for Poland, mark a Brazilian superstar out of a game, travel around the world plying his trade, before landing at Nuneaton Town, and at 27 still have the ability and potential to play at a higher level.

Read the full article from All Blue Daze here!

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