Da Silva snaffles British flair

You’d be correctly mistaken if you were expecting to read about Manchester United’s sibling superstars. While the twins are undoubtedly the most exciting full backs since Carlos and Cafu, this article is a tribute our own left-back whose Samba skills took St. George to Brazil.

While it’s not uncommon to see the odd Brit popping up in America, Australia and in some cases Moldova if you look at Rohan Ricketts’ CV, Seth Burkett remains on an exclusive list of expats to have plied their trade in Brazil.

The youngster, who celebrated his 20^th birthday today, spent a year playing for Sorriso in the Brazilian fifth division. I have this bizarre obsession that you’ve made it in life when you have your own Wikipedia page, to which Seth is credited. If you take a look at it, you will see that Seth was discovered by a man named Anderson da Silva playing for his local team, Stamford.

Seth snaffled up the opportunity to sign for Sorriso and soon found himself up against some well known faces from Europe’s yesteryear. Seth told me after I grilled him with a thousand questions from my intrigued mind, that he’d played against a few players who had played in La Liga. I’ll be honest, I found myself drifting into appreciation of his modest name-dropping, wondering if I could be good enough.

I must admit, I love to hear about Brit’s abroad. I think there’s an appreciative stigma attached to each of those players brave enough to try it. I mean let’s face it, the English game is littered with foreign talent who have up-shipped and moved to these shores, so why shouldn’t more English players do the same?

Burkett is back in the UK now after issues with his working visa, hoping to secure a contract with a professional side back home. Not resting on his laurels though, he is also studying at University but remains defiant that his spell in Brazil was not a one-off. He could tell you more about the Copa Libertadores than Take That can sell tickets, so with a bit of luck, Seth could be back in Brazil showing off some of that British Samba flair…

‘This is the story of the man who not only believed in himself, but his dreams too. This is the story of the man on the moon…’ (Seth Burkett, 2010)

Simon Bourne

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