The Sun-Herald

Human Traffic: The Sad-Happy-Sad Tale of Al Bangura

This weekend, players from English Championship team Watford will wear t-shirts supporting the cause of Alhassan Bangura.

Bangura, just 19 years old, is a talented footballer who plays for Watford.

He's also, according to the British government, an illegal immigrant who last week learned he faces deportation to Sierra Leone, the nominal homeland he fled four years ago.

Bangura's story is not uncommon for many of the world's refugees but his story definitely offers an alternative career path to many budding footballers with their own hopes and dreams.

In 2003, fearing for his life, Bangura fled war-torn Sierra Leone when he was asked to join a local secret sect which believed in rituals that included self-mutilation.

Bangura's father - who was murdered when Al was four - had been a member of the sect. Tradition followed that son, like father, must sign up as well when he reached adolescence.

Bangura, fearing for his life, not unreasonably had other ideas and fled for neighbouring Guinea. There, he says, he made friends with a man who promised safety and took him to France and then, on the Eurostar train, to Britain.

There was a catch, of course. The trade off was that Bangura was now caught in a web of human trafficking. His new "friend" planned to sell the African as a male prostitute.

Again, not unreasonably, Bangura had other ideas and, when two other men came to inspect the goods, he ran away. Literally. He was found running down a London street in his underpants crying for help.

Bangura was sent to an immigration holding centre, similar in concept to Australia's detention centres, and was able to claim asylum as an unaccompanied minor.

Here's the happy part. Bangura joined a local football team and was spotted playing in a park by Watford scouts, a club which includes Australians Richard Johnson and Paul Okon among its roll call of former players and Sir Elton John as a former chairman.

Bangura made his first-team debut in 2005, two years after leaving Sierra Leone, and was voted Young Player of the Year becoming popular with the fans and teammates.

He captained the side that currently leads the English Championship and will likely return to the Premier League next season,

Bangura pays taxes, is acknowledged by the club and local politicians as an ideal role model and citizen.

Just two weeks ago his British girlfriend gave birth to a baby son, Samal.

(However, he has no passport and no drivers' licence so needs to get lifts from teammates to get to and from training and games).

The next sad part: the British government says Bangura has no place in the UK.

There's more detail here.

He has once chance to appeal the decision to deport him before he is forcibly removed, as soon as Christmas.

Of course, Bangura's case receives public attention because a professional footballer has some kind of platform.

(It shows, though, the bind that football has with the wider community.)

His case is no different from maybe thousands of similar complicated stories in the UK, as well as Australia.

Importantly, there are potential similarities with the three Iraqi players, and their assistant coach, who stayed in Australia after the recent Olympic Games qualifier in Gosford.

Remember those guys?

In case you have forgotten, look here.

The Iraqi Football Association last week banned for life Ali Mansur, Ali Khadher, and Ali Abbas from representing their country.

The Iraqis are also hoping to have them banned from playing for any "foreign" clubs.

Considering that Iraq is pretty much a no-go zone for footballers and, now especially these guys, such a ban would kill the careers of some talented athletes.

It will be interesting to see how the Australian football community reacts to the plight of these Iraqis.

Back in the UK, Al Bangura is finding that even if his adopted country's government doesn't want him, new friends, teammates, and the general public does.

You can sign a petition in support of Bangura here.

And if the Brits do send him back in handcuffs to Sierra Leone, maybe we can ask for the plane to be redirected to Sydney.

The A-League - even new Socceroo coach Pim Verbeek - could do a lot worse.