Professional footballer Tarantini's “My Cause” project was presented yesterday in Vila do Conde.
A project that I helped to create and structure and a presentation session that I had the honour of opening at his invitation.
Tarantini is a “different” player to the footballer we're used to seeing on TV. Someone I met during the round the world. I've interviewed him and he's one of the most inspiring people I've met on the five continents I've travelled to. His story even features in the book Make It Happen.
Tarantini decided to launch this project because he believes that the dream of football, although idyllic for many, often falls short of what is thought or desired. The reasons are varied, but the result is almost always the same. Serious injuries, unexpected illnesses, financial management problems, bad investments, fraud, lack of post-football thinking, bad life choices... an endless list of episodes that end up destroying the dream and consequently the individual, professionally and personally. Cases that create such an emotional and social imbalance that they lead to situations where it's difficult to readapt to a new reality, which can even lead to problems of family harmony and the loss of the individual who is capable and integral to a plural and active society.
The data is alarming in the world of sport:
- 80% of American football league players who retire go bankrupt within the first three years;
- 60% per cent of NBA basketballers who retire go bankrupt within five years;
- 3/5 players in the English Football League go bankrupt within five years of finishing their football career;
It's a real problem that Tarantini wants to solve. That's why he launched the “My Cause” which aims to publicise the problem and quantify it in Portugal.
