Ex-S.League player turns cobbler to help poor kids in India

TOKYO — Ryuji Sueoka has spent 12 years playing professional football in countries like Japan, Singapore and Thailand. But it was while playing in India where he thought of an idea to give back to the less fortunate.

The 36-year-old Japanese, who played in the S.League with Albirex Niigata, Geylang United and Balestier Khalsa from 2004 to 2007, was deeply moved by the level of poverty of the Indian people during his five-year stint there.

So much so that the Yamaguchi native has undergone a cobbling course back home in Japan, so that he can fix broken football boots there and send them over to India where youngsters who could not afford to buy football boots would get these for free.

“When I used to drive through the towns in India and stopped at the traffic lights, there were beggars asking for money,” said Sueoka, who was voted I-League’s Player of the Year in 2011 while playing for Salgaocar, in an interview with FIFA.com.

“I thought to myself, ‘What should I be doing?’ This isn’t something you see or experience in Japan.”

During his five-year stint in India, he witnessed a number of cobblers who would fix shoes on the streets. According to Sueoka, “When my football boots needed repairing I would take them to the cobblers because their skills were brilliant. I was really impressed by them.

“Then I wondered if I could bring this idea and use it in Japan and that’s how it started,” the midfielder added.

On his return to Japan after retiring from professional football, Sueoka not only attended a cobbling school but also voluntarily worked as an apprentice in a few cobbler shops for a few months in order to master the art of repairing old football boots.

Using his contacts in Japan, he gathered old and broken boots that were discarded, and painstakingly worked on them one by one.

After the boots were fixed, he would pack them into boxes and send it to India for budding footballers who need them.

“There are a lot of old football boots in Japan,” said Sueoka, who is now a coach with Japanese second division side Ehime FC. “So, I’m fixing them and sending them to children in India - those from poorer background who can’t afford to buy them.

He added: “Asia has not had a World Cup champion yet. So this is my dream, to help Asian football grow - either as a coach or help initiate projects like this.”