Paul John James, from the 1986 World Cup to clochard on the streets of London – Corriere.it

From the Mexico ’86 World Cup to the homeless on the streets of London. the unexpected and tortuous direction of life’s journey Paul John James, a former midfielder who participated with Canada in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, won the 1985 Concacaf championship and played the 1986 World Cup, the first for his national team, which until Qatar 2022 never qualified for a world championship tournament again. If up to three decades ago he played football, today he is begging (which he prefers to call fundraising) in the streets of the English capital. He holds out his red woolen cap in the hope that some passerby will drop some coins, and then disappear inside the station. Embankment, London Underground, served by the Bakerloo, Circle, District and Northern lines. And few know who this gentleman really is, born in Wales, in Cardiff, but whom fate then brought to Canada at the age of 16, so much so that he chose to wear his shirt. Some even ask to type his name on Google and there are those who buy him a coffee, those who give him food and blankets. And to think that Paul John James a few years ago – and it was June 1, 1986 – faced the Platini’s France, reigning European champions, losing 1-0 with goals from Papin. Two years earlier he was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Olympics, on penalties, by Brazil. He totaled 47 caps for Canada and his face stands out in the Wall of fame from Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, alongside champions such as Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, former Lions captain Sam Warburton and Wales captain Gareth Bale.

Today they are memories that risk fading in the alleys of London. Paul John James unemployed for 13 years and homeless for six years. returned to the UK from Canada just before the world knew about Covid. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean angry and frustrated, convinced he had been abandoned by people who said they loved him and respected him for using drugs. He lived in a hostel nearby Holborn until recently, he slept on cardboard cutouts in Charing Cross or near Westminster Cathedral. Before that, she was a wanderer in Toronto. In fact, after his career as a footballer ended, the former midfielder successfully embarked on that of a coach, even leading the national team Canada Under 20 and several notable varsity teams. Then the decline, drugs, escape to London. If you want to know what total contempt and loathing of people is, be a homeless person. But even if you want to see moments of extraordinary kindness and humanity from people, he said in the interview with the Daily Mail. Why do I raise funds? To be independent. To find a semblance of normality and be able to wear my own clothes or shoes, not second-hand, he said. I want to regain independence from the metaphorical rent to which I was sentenced as innocent for 13 years. Not since UK, but from Canada as a nation. To try and rekindle the passion and enthusiasm I once had.

He watched the recent World Cup, he lived in the streets of London the desperation of a people for the second penalty missed by Kane, who effectively eliminated Gareth Southgate’s national team against France in the quarterfinals. England was better that day, he said. Instead, Wales showed the fighting spirit that I am proud of. Paul John James first smoked crack in 1998 and his life has never been the same since. He entered a seemingly dead-end tunnel and was not helped by anyone. Indeed, he lost his job and the situation got worse. He was licensed from York University, which he dragged to court, but to no avail. He felt discriminated against, alienated, isolated, abandoned, but he never stopped fighting. Given that over the years he has emailed everyone from the Canadian courts to the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, so that no one is removed from human society for a mistake, as happened to him, without being helped: There has never been a war against drugs, only a war against people. And it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most from social exclusion, marginalization and poverty. In England he goes around with a black bag and no longer has his smartphone, which was stolen. He looks proudly at the photos of Canada at Mexico ’86: Football was everything to me. In a few days, thanks to the fundraiser, the former midfielder will return to the hostel without having any pretension of being recognized as the man who 36 years ago, with his national team, challenged Platini.