Robert Green – A Goalkeeper with a Difference

I recently read about the exploits of the West Ham keeper Robert Green. He comes across as a man with a difference in this age where the only thing most footballers have on their mind is money.

Last summer he climbed Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, to raise funds for AMREF, a medical and research facility. Before the climb he spent time in Kenya, seeing the organization’s work for himself. Last season, he turned in a stunning series of performances despite suffering the lingering after effects of altitude sickness.

This year, he and a friend rented a cheap fixed caravan, wore the same clothes for a couple of days and braved muddy conditions and appalling portable toilets at the annual Isle of Wight Rock Festival, which this year featured performances by the likes of the Stereophonics, Neil Young, the Prodigy, Razorlight, Simple Minds and the Ting Tings.

As you might have gathered by now, Robert Green is not your average footballer. He writes an intelligent, original column for a British newspaper, dabbles in poetry and studied law and psychology before deciding to begin a professional footballer's career with Norwich City.

You can read the whole article by John Dykes at

http://www.espnstar.com/opinion/columnists/column/item56239/#