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March 19, 2002

A little more about this

A little more about this Nike FC promotion.
From the Sport Telegraph (quoted here):

..."an ambitious new initiative to help educate and develop the football skills of more than half a million British youngsters over the next three years". Schoolchildren from seven to 11 will receive coaching. If henceforth they are to favour a particular brand of clothing and footwear, of course, Nike will be powerless to intervene.
The new missionaries, with their logo-embossed beads and trinkets, nevertheless come across like a breath of fresh air in a world described by Nike's Brian Marwood, the erstwhile Arsenal and (for the benefit of those who blinked) England winger. An agent rang him recently asking for a boot deal. Nothing unusual about that, you may think - except that the client was aged 12. "Even the agents," observed Marwood, "are getting younger."

And in the Observer (quoted here):
The Nike FC scheme, developed over the past few years by a respected German coach, Horst Wein, aims to help hard-pressed teachers to lay on better sessions for kids. Nike have initially appointed coaching directors in London and Manchester, and will also work with 'their' clubs, including Leeds and Sunderland, in local community schemes. Around £1 million is earmarked for the initiative this year, the first of at least three.
...[the FA's National Game Development Officer, Steve] Parkin professes not to want anything to do with politics. He may have no choice.

Primary-school sports teachers are being trained in the Nike FC promotion: it's "an educational project". Yet the advertising is blatantly direct, pushing trainers and kit in their promotional leaflets to "help your performance". This from any commercial company would be too much. From Nike, it's sickening.