Interview - ‘I am what I am because of my religion’ says Kolo Toure

Interview - ‘I am what I am because of my religion’ says Kolo Toure

By Zeeshan Akhtar

“I am what I am because of my religion. It changed my life and I am really happy to be a Muslim. We have many Muslim players at the club now – Abou Diaby, Bakary Sagna, and we all go to the mosque to pray together after training,” Kolo Toure tells Sports Editor of The Muslim News, Zeeshan Akhtar, in an exclusive interview, and also talks about his life as a footballer and his time in Arsenal.

As I enter the gates to the Arsenal training headquarters in London Colney, I am taken aback by the quiet and calming atmosphere around the venue. I drive through the security packed entrance, park up and enter the media centre. “I’m here to interview Kolo Toure,” I say to the security officer sitting at reception. “Please make your way to the interview room,” the security officer replies with a broad smile.

I make my way to the interview room and am told that Kolo is still training and will come over to speak to me as soon as the squad finish their final training session before the game against in-form Hull City. I step out of the room and into the main corridor and old footballing memories begin to occupy my thoughts as I look at galleries of framed pictures of past Arsenal legends. As I look around, I remember thinking to myself, “there are so many great footballers here,” the likes of Ian Wright, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit, all wonderfully gifted footballers, many of whom were either bought in, or developed into world class players, by one of the best managers to grace the English Premier League, Arsene Wenger. It’s hard to contemplate that Arsene has been at Arsenal for 12 years; it almost feels like yesterday that this remarkable manager first stepped foot inside Arsenal’s former ground of Highbury.


When Wenger first arrived, no one knew of or had heard of him, but his philosophy and brand of football transformed the ‘boring’ tag that they inherited, under George Graham, to that of ‘entertainers’. No one could have envisaged the success he and his Arsenal teams went on to accomplish over the next decade.

Wenger is the only non-British manager to win the ‘Double’ (winning the League and FA Cup in the same season) in England, having done so in 1998 and 2002. In 2004, he became the only manager in FA Premier League history to go through the entire season without defeat. Wenger has been described as a coach who “has spent his career building teams that combine the accumulation of silverware with a desire to entertain and attack,” and as “a purist, dedicated to individual and collective technical quality.” Wenger has a strong reputation for unearthing young talent. At Monaco, he brought Liberian George Weah, who later became FIFA World Player of the Year with AC Milan, from Cameroonian side Tonnerre Yaoundé and Nigerian Victor Ikpeba, who later became African Player of the Year, from RFC de Liège. In his time at Arsenal, Wenger has signed young, relatively unknown players such as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Francesc Fàbregas, Robin Van Persie and Kolo Toure, and helped their transition into becoming world class players. Notably, the Arsenal defence that set a new record after going ten consecutive games without conceding a goal on route to the UEFA Champions League 2005-06 final against FC Barcelona, cost Arsenal less than £5m to assemble.

As I gaze at a picture of Patrick Vieira celebrating the FA Cup final victory over rivals Manchester United in 2005, I notice a large shadow walking across the corridor behind me. I turn around and see the tall but slender figure of Arsene Wenger. There is an aura about him, almost a sense of calmness and assurance and this engulfs the pre-match press conference. The ‘question and answer’ session with the press is conducted in a whisperish manner. As I leave the press conference, a member of Arsenal’s Press staff approaches me to confirm that Kolo will be here shortly. I make my way to the interview room and wait for the arrival of Arsenal’s vice captain.

I see the Ivorian drive up to the centre and this is soon followed by footsteps outside the door. I embrace Kolo with a firm handshake and an “Assalamu ‘Alaykum” greeting. Kolo is renowned for his pace, strength and athleticism and this is evident from his physical stature. It is a testament to his professionalism and talent that he is the longest serving member in the current Arsenal squad.

Kolo has always been proud of his roots and he joyfully describes his upbringing, his religion and his football development in the Ivory Coast. “Like all African boys, I loved playing football. I was small (in stature), but my dream was to become a footballer. I joined the Ivory Coast Academy in 1995 and we used to play football for 6 hours a day,” Kolo commented. He cites Islam and the encouragement of his parents as instrumental to the success he has enjoyed to date. “One of my friends was a Muslim, his parents were practicing and they would regularly go to the mosque. My father’s friend was an Imam and I started practicing (Islam) with them from the age of 13.”
Although he came through the academy, the competition to succeed and become a professional footballer was intense. “The manager, Jean-marc Guillou, was a French man. He built the academy for young African boys to change their lives and make a career. We were lucky to join the academy. There were 500 kids who would want to join the academy and only 20-25 could join. They were looking for players who had big prospects. He would pay for everything for us and look after us.”

He also has fond memories of his International debut for the Ivory Coast. “I was first called up for the Rwanda game (April 2000), but I was injured so I didn’t play. The first (game) I played was in Niger. I was only nineteen and I was so happy to be involved. It was great. To play for the national team is amazing,” Kolo said with a broad smile. The smile on his face quickly turned into an expression of frustration when discussing his experiences of the 2006 African Cup of Nations, a competition in which Kolo finished a runner up after losing to host nation Egypt in the final on penalties. “We’ve been chasing this Cup for a long time, we’re always close. We’re always struggling to beat Egypt. It’s difficult to say now if we’ll win it next time round, but we’ve been together for a long time and we keep improving. We’ve shown the whole of Africa that we’re a good team but to win the Cup would be something else.”

Playing under the tutelage of Wenger has taken his performances to another level and has brought about a high level of consistency, a fact that he acknowledges. “I feel very lucky to be playing under him, it’s fantastic. When I joined there were so many big players like Denis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Martin Keown. I spent some good times with them. They taught me to be a good player and a good man. I was really impressed with the humbleness of these big players. It didn’t matter how good a player you were, they would still respect you and that showed me that they are good people. Being a good player and good person go together.”

Kolo did not make his debut for the first team until August 2002. Initially regarded as a utility man, he started his Arsenal career as a midfielder, but later reverted back to defence. “When I joined it was very difficult to get into the team. In the academy I was a defender, but when I joined there were so many other good defenders, like Keown and Adams, and so the boss told me he’d play me in the middle as we had some injuries in the midfield at the time. I just wanted to play so I was happy to do that and proud to be playing,” Kolo explained.

The 2003/04 season proved to be one of the most memorable for Kolo as Arsenal became the first team to go undefeated in the top flight of English football for more than 100 years. “It was amazing going undefeated for that season. It was unbelievable. I had a friend in France who was losing some games and I was asking him how that felt because I couldn’t remember the feeling of when you lose games! Now I think back and think, how could I ask this question? There was no pressure to win the next game and we were all relaxed. We knew we’d come out and do our best and see what happens. It was a great and special time,” a happy Kolo recalls.

Another painful defeat for Kolo occurred in the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona in Paris. He helped his Arsenal team reach the final after scoring the winner in the first leg of the semi-final victory against Villareal. He also formed a formidable defensive partnership with Phelippe Senderos and they kept ten consecutive clean sheets, a European competition record. “This campaign was fantastic. We started very well, not conceding goals. The record of clean sheets too. I scored the goal to take the team into the final. It was a great time and I thank God for that, only He can give these moments. We were confident going into the final but for me, Barcelona were the best team for this season. We had some injuries, but the red card (Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off when Arsenal were leading 1-0) killed the game for us. I think they deserved it though, because throughout the season they were the best team in Europe,” Kolo graciously concedes.

It is now four seasons since Arsenal last won any silverware and the loss of Mathieu Flamini and Alexander Hleb has led to many critics dismissing Arsenal’s title credentials this year. However, Kolo, with a defiant look, had an equally defiant message to all of these critics. “I think the club is strong and organised. The manager has his plan and we want to win things. If we continue to play well as we are at the moment, we’re confident they will come. We just have to stay focused and keep going, there are plenty of games to come. We’ve definitely learnt from last year and we will work to get trophies.”

Kolo has played in some of the biggest games and stadiums in the world, but the most memorable game that stands out for him is Arsenal’s superb 6-3 victory against Liverpool at Anfield in the Carling Cup in 2007, a game for which he was given the captain’s armband. “It was a great game. Liverpool played really well, but we won. We played so well, with lots of young players and nobody was expecting us to win. To win with such a score was great,” Kolo enthusiastically recalls.

Speaking about his childhood football heroes when he was growing up, Kolo said that although he didn’t have one solitary player he used to look up to, he did admire Marcel Desailly. “I had a lot (of heroes). Every year there was a new player who came up. Desailly was one key one, maybe because his shape was the same as me.”

He also cites Alan Shearer as being the most difficult player he has come up against and that has caused him most problems. “There are many good ones (players) but Alan Shearer was a very difficult striker to mark as he played with his experience!” He’s certainly not the first to experience such difficulties of marking the ex-England striker.

It is clear from Kolo’s words that he is very much involved with community based projects. “The manager who started the Ivory Coast academy is now doing the same in Mali and we’re helping him with that - all the players who were in the academy in Ivory Coast, like (Didier) Zakora (Tottenham Hotspur), Yahya (Kolo’s brother, Barcelona), (Soloman) Kalou (Chelsea) and me. I do a lot of work based at home in the Ivory Coast as people are poor out there and a lot of money is needed,” he explains.

Arsenal have themselves been working on their ‘in the Community’ scheme, which works with local primary schools to embrace the diversity of Arsenal’s local and global community. Arsenal’s ‘World on Our Doorstep’ initiative celebrates multiculturalism with youngsters in the Borough and draws parallels with the Arsenal team. The Club has recently launched a Premier League funded project which focuses on the most prominent religions present in London. Using Arsenal resources along with support from Kolo Toure and Manu Eboue, Arsenal in the Community is introducing a variety of religious topics in line with the Religious Education Key Stage 2 National Curriculum.

This forms part of the Club’s ‘Arsenal For Everyone’ initiative which aims to celebrate diversity and equality in all forms at Arsenal and has been set up as part of the Club’s work in conjunction with ‘Kick It Out’, football’s anti-racism campaign. There was a focus on this initiative on October 18 at the Club’s Premier League fixture against Everton at Emirates Stadium.
Despite such positive work, Islamophobia and racism in football is a current topic of debate after unsavoury scenes across many football grounds, both home and abroad. The case of Middlesbrough striker Mido being subjected to Islamophobic chants by Newcastle supporters in last year’s Tyne-Tees derby a prime example. I asked Kolo’s opinion on this subject and whether he had experienced anything unsavoury or untoward. “I’ve come up against racism in Holland when playing there, but nothing in the Premiership, it’s the best country in the world!”, was his emphatic response.

Kolo’s experiences of football in England are obviously very positive and, in such a physically demanding profession, I ask Kolo how he copes during the blessed month of Ramadan. “The first ten days are tough, but the body gets used to it after that. I don’t fast when playing because it’s dangerous but I make them up afterwards.” Kolo’s religion and profession appear to go hand in hand and so I ask Kolo whether he is aware of a growing Arsenal Muslim fan base. He smiles and says, “Yes, we have lots of Muslim fans and we are particularly aware when we go abroad to other Muslim countries.”

It is clear that faith plays an important role in Kolo’s life but it is certainly something new for his fellow professionals. As the influx of Muslim players from abroad continues, the number of questions from Kolo’s team mates will also grow. Ashley Cole was once asked what had been the strangest thing he had seen in football. His response was, “Kolo praying in the dressing room on his prayer mat.”

When I put this to Kolo, he smiled and said it was his duty to show what Islam is to his team mates. “I have to explain my religious beliefs and practice all the time and I give back to my religion through this. I am what I am because of my religion. It changed my life and I am really happy to be a Muslim. We have many Muslim players at the club now – Abou Diaby, Bakary Sagna, and we all go to the mosque to pray together after training.”

It is with this final comment of such clarity that out time ends. As Kolo and I leave the room, we rush into our cars and head to the local mosque for Jum’ah (Friday) prayers. As we are about to leave, Kolo tells me Abou Diaby will meet us there.

As we arrive, Kolo donates a substantial amount of money to the development of the local mosque. He seems happy and content to donate and help people wherever and whenever he can. I get the sense that he feels God has given him the means to look after not only himself, but also the greater Muslim community, and it is with this sense of responsibility that Arsenal’s vice captain chooses to forge his legacy.

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=3777