{"id":13025,"date":"2017-08-01T11:46:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T16:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=13025"},"modified":"2017-08-01T11:46:41","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T16:46:41","slug":"gael-angoula-a-life-in-six-chapters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=13025","title":{"rendered":"Gael Angoula: A LIFE IN SIX CHAPTERS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/p>\n

Ga\u00ebl Angoula (born 18 July 1982) is a French footballer<\/a> who plays as a defender<\/a> for N\u00eemes Olympique<\/a> in Ligue.\u00a0<\/a>His brother, Aldo Angoula<\/a>, is also a professional football player.<\/strong><\/sup><\/p>\n

The end of every season sees a number of players hang their boots up for good. The conclusion of the 2016\/17 campaign was no exception, with a clutch of players who have enjoyed outstanding careers deciding to call it a day, most notably Philipp Lahm, Xabi Alonso, Martin Demichelis, Frank Lampard, Francesco Totti and Gael Angoula. Yes, you read that right: Gael Angoula. <\/strong><\/p>\n

While the former defender, who had stints with Nimes, Angers and Bastia, may not have won as much silverware as the aforementioned stars, his life story has been no less extraordinary than their careers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Thai boxer in his youth, Angoula spent time in prison in 2003 before making a relatively late start to his football career. It was one that eventually took him to the top, when he made his Ligue 1 debut in 2012. After announcing his retirement in May 2017, he took the unusual step \u2013 for a player, at least \u2013 of becoming a referee, the sixth chapter in a life story with many a twist and turn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Thai boxer
\nBorn in Le Havre in 1982, Angoula grew up in a tough neighbourhood. Though he liked football and played it occasionally, it was as a Thai boxer that he initially showed his sporting prowess. \u201cI had to give it up in the end because I kept injuring my shinbone,\u201d he told FIFA.com. \u201cTo begin with I had no desire to become a professional footballer, even though I\u2019d always liked the sport. I played street football with my mates from the neighbourhood, but it wasn\u2019t until later, when circumstances conspired, that I wanted to become a player.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Behind bars
\nIt took a spell in prison before Angoula, who is of Cameroonian extraction, took control of his own destiny. \u201cThere was a time when I was very easily influenced. I hit rock bottom,\u201d he said when asked why he went to jail. \u201cI\u2019d rather talk about coming out of prison than going in. It was a fresh start for me. That was when I realised that football was a possible escape route.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. A second chance
\nIt was Jacky Colinet, the head of a small club in the French fifth tier (known at the time as CFA2), who gave Angoula the chance to leave his neighbourhood behind on being released from prison. As well as carrying out a wide range of duties at the club, from secretarial work to coaching youngsters and picking up litter after matches, Angoula also played, and he did so rather well. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI had a trial with Auxerre in my second year in the CFA,\u201d he explained. \u201cThey had a European Cup match and I trained with the players who hadn\u2019t been called up for it and the reserves. It was a different level altogether, and though I didn\u2019t make the grade, I didn\u2019t feel I\u2019d made a fool of myself. I told myself that if I wanted it badly enough, I could be just as good as those kids one day. It pushed me on and from that point on I got better and better, changed clubs and climbed up through the divisions, until I turned pro with Bastia in the National (the French third tier).\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. The big time
\nAngoula continued his ascent to the summit of French football with the Corsicans, helping them win promotion to Ligue 2 and, the very next season, to Ligue 1, where he faced Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and the like. \u201cIt was unbelievable. My happiest memory, though, was my first Ligue 1 match against Sochaux. It felt so weird to be there in L1. That\u2019s when I realised just how far I had come.\u201d Between 2013 and 2016, Angoula made 64 appearances in the French top flight for Bastia and then Angers.\u00a0<\/strong>
\n
\n5. A new trade
\nAfter bringing an end to his career at the age of 35, while playing Ligue 2 football with Nimes Olympique, Angoula embarked on another adventure: refereeing. \u201cI\u2019d got to an age where I had to start thinking about doing something else, even though I was still under contract with Nimes,\u201d he said. \u201cI met an international referee while I was there. I asked him a lot of questions and it seemed interesting to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Ligue 1 and 2 I was seen as a temperamental player, and referees treated me in a different way, which I liked. As players, we tend to see referees as people who just direct the game, but I could see that there was more to it than that. There was a real psychological side to it as well. Then there was the pre-match preparation and all the team work, etc. I wanted to know more about it and I had the good fortune to meet Sandryk Biton (a French referee), who gave me a lot of help and showed me what refereeing was all about.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. New horizons
\nWith the help of Eric Borghini, the president of the CFA, and Pascal Garibian, the president of France\u2019s National Referees Board, Angoula took charge of his first match, at U-17 level, and passed his theory exam, in June. \u201cI\u2019m thoroughly enjoying it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole new world to discover. I don\u2019t set myself any specific objectives. There\u2019s as big a gap between the amateur and professional world for referees as there is for footballers. I\u2019m embarking on another obstacle course but there\u2019s no reason why I can\u2019t reach for the top. Life\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ga\u00ebl Angoula (born 18 July 1982) is a French footballer who plays as a defender for N\u00eemes Olympique in Ligue.\u00a0His brother, Aldo Angoula, is also a professional football player. The end of every season sees a number of players hang their boots up for good. The conclusion of the 2016\/17 campaign was no exception, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,1006,1314,1456,1156,13,14,7,9,10],"tags":[1061,1945,1943,1944],"class_list":["post-13025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-entertainment","category-futbol","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-global-sports","category-health","category-most-commented","category-sports","category-us","category-world","tag-fifa","tag-french-footballer","tag-gael-angoula","tag-nimes-olympique-in-ligue-2","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}