THANK YOU, RANDY
THANK YOU, RANDY
His name was Randy Samuel. He played as a defender for the Canadian national team. He was the only Black player on the team in 1986. Canada had qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time. It was being held in Mexico. I was 18 years old and a Canadian living in Africa. I was discovering this team, which spoke to me of a country I didn't know. A country where, having been born in Montreal in 1967, became a memory a year later. My Rwandan parents first landed in Brazzaville. After that, other African capitals followed, and the Canadian living abroad that I was didn't set foot in Canada again until 1987.
Therefore discovering this team at the World Cup filled me with joy. It was my country of birth. Therefore, I supported them immediately.
The one who caught my attention was the Black player. Randy Samuel was in charge of preventing goals from being conceded. At six feet one inch, he tried his best, along with his teammates, to help Canada advance to the second round of the playoffs, but to no avail. Canada was eliminated in the first round after three losses without scoring a single goal but conceding five goals.
But that defeat didn't matter much to me. It was their first time competing. What was important was seeing that young Black man wearing my country's colors. He represented hope for a young man who dreamed of returning to Canada. I remember putting the photo of the Canadian team in the notebook where I wrote my first stories. I still have that notebook, by the way. That team was part of a world that was uniquely mine.
Randy Samuel retired and became a football coach for promising young Canadian players. Today, the national team has many Black players, and I often wonder if this man knows the hope he instilled in me. Thank you, Randy Samuel.
Didier Leclair, writer
