With the announcement that Kwesi Appiah will be raising funds for UK based charity TackleAfrica in the Pay2Play event in May, I thought I’d write this week’s blog about Palace players with African heritage.
Kwesi himself is of mixed Ghanian and English descent, which might explain his eagerness to get involved with the TackleAfrica. They run projects across several countries in sub-Saharan African, including Ghana, delivering HIV education to the most vulnerable of communities through the medium of football.
Kwesi has done his time around the lower echelons of the football pyramid, before hitting the big time by joining the mighty Palace. Bearing in mind the genetic make up of the areas around South London, it’s no surprise that Kwesi is the latest in a long line of Palace players with African connections. Here’s my summary of a select few:
Gavin Nebbelling
Big Neb was one of the first players that I used to watch at Palace in the late 1980’s, tightening up the defence along side legend Jim Cannon, or anchoring the midfield. For some unknown reason he always reminded me of Neighbours’ Jim Robinson, but he was actually of South African rather than Aussie descent. Nebbelling actually played his entire pro career in England, after a youth career in Johannesburg with Arcadia Shepherds. He made over 150 appearances for the Eagles before moving onto Fulham and Preston, with a smattering of loan moves in between.
Kagisho Dikgacoi
‘KG’ was Dougie Freedman’s biggest signing when he purchased him from Fulham for £600k last summer after a successful loan spell. Unfortunately the South African international has not quite lived up to his early Palace promised and appears to have been carrying a little extra timber in recent weeks. A defensive midfielder, KG has not quite demonstrated the robustness needed to play that role in the Championship, nor a particular willingness to create or score, although the highlight of his Palace career to date has to be his Zidane-esque goal last term, stumbling onto the ball and pirouetting past the keeper. An established international, KG has 39 caps for Bafana Bafana, scoring 2 goals.
Victor Moses
Victor Moses became the latest high profile graduate from the famous Crystal Palace academy to be sold onto a Premier League team when Palace slumped into administration in 2010. Moses was Palace’s most saleable asset and despite optimistic links with Barcelona and Real Madrid, ended being sold to Wigan for £2.5m. Moses blasted his way through the youth ranks at Palace having arrived from Nigeria as an orphaned asylum seeker.
He’s actually been capped at all age groups from Under 16-21 for England (golden boot winner 2007 U17 Euro Championships), but has recently been flirting with representing his country of birth, Nigeria, at senior level. He made his debut for the appropriately nickname, Eagles, in a friendly against Rwanda in February. This summer will be a big one for Victor Moses. Having recently put in some headline making performances, he has just announced his intention not to renew his contract with Wigan, leaving open the opportunity for a move to a bigger club. Barca and Real are unlikely to be calling but Liverpool, Newcastle or Swansea may come be more realistic destinations.
Wilfred Zaha
The new Victor Moses? If VicMo was the last academy product to be sold on for big bucks, Wilfred Zaha could be the next. Another African immigrant, Zaha was actually born in Cote d’Ivoire and played youth football with ASEC Mimosas who also spawned the careers of luminaries such as Bonaventure Kalou, Didier Zokora, Emmanuel Eboué, Gervinho, Salomon Kalou, and Yaya Touré. Like Moses, Zaha has been tipped for big things, and will surely end up in the Premier League before too long, with Palace, or more likely a team already there.
Bolton made an embarrassingly low bid for Zaha on transfer deadline day, but should the worst happened and Zaha is sold on, Palace fans would like to see the player have loftier aspirations than Bolton, a trotter, he ain’t. Unlike when Moses was sold, Palace aren’t in a position where they will be force to sell, and Zaha is a year into a 5 year contract. Hopefully adding to his tally of games and goals in the Championship will see him develop into a top player. Zaha has already won England U21 caps, and has been shortlisted for Team GB, but it remains to be seen whether he sticks with his current nation or returns to his homeland to realise international ambitions. By the way Owen Coyle….he’s just too good for you.
For more information on the type of work that TA do, and the areas they are involved in check out their website: http://tackleafrica.org/highlights/what-we-do/
If you want to get involved yourself, sign up for one of TackleAfrica’s Football Marathon’s this summer – 12 hour football endurance events in London, Manchester, Lancaster, Brighton and Jersey. To sponsor Kwesi, check out his justgiving site www.justgiving.com/kwesiappiah or text KAPP 38 £10 to 70070.
More info on IPay2Play here:http://www.teamimani.co.uk/ipay2play/
[ad_pod id=’writer-1′ align=’right’]