That’s right, footballer . . . . . for those of you not familiar with the term, loosely translated, it is someone who plays the sport of football. Or what you would call “soccer,” except that I don’t really know what soccer is, in so far as how it relates to the nature of the sport. Hence the name, “football,” as it relates to the ball at your feet and not in your hands or how high your socks are.

Football is the sport I began playing in a little known town called San Antonio, where I made my footballing debut at the tender age of six. Who knew that only five years later I would win State with my club team putting SA on the map?

Ok, maybe my team didn’t put SA on the map . . . . . . nor did winning the Under-12 State Championship. In fact, I’m pretty sure the championships my brother’s teams won laid the foundation for footballers in SA; I was just riding the legacy. That is to say, I have been carried by the legacy of all of those mad footballers who came before me, playing a sport they didn’t truly comprehend but played anyways for what the game represented. As Bob Marley so eloquently put it, “football means freedom.”

Regrettably, their legacy has gone unmentioned, unheralded, uncelebrated for far too long . . . . . . until now. Now is the time their sacrifice will come to fruition with the Crocketteers and their efforts to bring a pro franchise to the SA. I am happy to say that I will be lending my services to this effort with the hopes that in the future I am worthy enough to call myself a Crocketteer.

So when you ask this Scouser at heart, clad in Silver and Black: “what it is you value so highly, that you are willing to fight and possibly die for?”

I will call it football . . . . .

-Andres Roberto

Tags: mls, San Antonio Soccer, Scouser, USL