Alessandro Zarrelli

Alessandro Zarrelli
Personal information
Full name Alessandro Zarrelli
Date of birth (1984-09-05) 5 September 1984
Place of birth Rivoli, Italy
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Port Talbot Town
Youth career
2002–2004 A.C.D. Asti
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2005 Lisburn Distillery 3 (0)
2006–2008 Ardeer Thistle 31 (5)
2008–2009 Queens Park 15 (1)
2009–2010 → Irvine Meadow (loan) 9 (0)
2010–2011 Northwich Victoria 16 (0)
2011 Hucknall Town 8 (0)
2012 Lincoln Moorlands Railway 19 (0)
2012–2013 Diss Town 7 (0)
2013 → Downham Town (loan) 14 (0)
2013 Long Melford 9 (0)
2014 Erith & Belvedere 17 (0)
2014 Eastbourne Town 6 (0)
2014 Sheppey United 3 (0)
2014–2015 Selkirk 26 (0)
2015 → Widnes (loan) 7 (0)
2015–2016 St Cuthbert Wanderers 21 (0)
2016 Grimsby Borough 7 (0)
2016 → Heather St John's (loan) 3 (0)
2016 Corsham Town 16 (2)
2017 → Almondsbury UWE (loan) 1 (1)
2017– Port Talbot Town 23 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19th May 2018

Alessandro Zarrelli1 (born 5 September 1984), sometimes referred to as Alex Zarrelli, is an Italian semi-professional footballer, who plays as a defensive midfielder for Port Talbot Town. He gained minor notoriety in the United Kingdom for featuring on a 2006 Sky TV one off-documentary. Since then Zarrelli has gone on to play at semi-professional level in England and Scotland and is currently back playing in Wales.[1]

Controversy

In 2006, he was featured on a Sky TV documentary.[2] During the 2004–05 season, Zarrelli a young Italian AC Asti footballer sent fake faxes to clubs in Northern Ireland and Wales posing as an up-and-coming young professional footballer, who had been offered to clubs on a cultural exchange by the Italian Football Federation. The letter was signed by an Italian executive named Matteo Colobase; in reality Colobase did not exist. The letter promised the clubs a young Italian footballer who had supposedly played at youth level for clubs such as Sheffield Wednesday and Rangers.[3] In reality Zarrelli was playing youth team football for A.C.D. Asti and had only been attached to the 2 clubs briefly whilst on trial. The first club he contacted was in January 2005, when he approached IFA Premiership side Lisburn Distillery, who eventually signed him on a short-term deal,[4][5] however he was released in April after a breach of Club rules. He then contacted Welsh Premier League side Bangor City in July 2005, who were unaware of his previous exploits in Northern Ireland, but after staying with the club 10 days, manager Peter Davenport contacted Mike Rigg who worked for Zarrelli's supposed former club Sheffield Wednesday. Rigg said that they had him at Club a few years before on trial but he was not signed,[6] equally Glasgow Rangers also confirmed that they only had the player on trial in 2001.[7]

Most of the problems started during his time at Bangor, when he requested a wage of £200 a week despite initially stating in one of his letters that his wages would be supplied by the FIGC.[8]

Davenport said "He was only here for about a week to 10 days. In that time, I checked a bit into his background and it didn't add up. He arrived here with a broken nose, so he never actually played for Bangor, he wasn't anything special".

He was eventually exposed by the show[3] which covered Zarrelli's story along with that of Ali Dia.[9] The documentary was able to track the fax number Zarrelli had been using to a shop in Asti, Italy round the corner from his parents house. The crew set up a sting operation in London, where they staged a meeting posing as football scouts interested in signing him. Zarrelli showed up and began to talk before the crew sprung their surprise upon him.

Zarrelli admitted his deception and later phoned the TV's presenters to sarcastically thank them for making him famous. This recording was played out at the end of the show.[2][10]

Football Career

Since the controversy in 2005 and having it reported in the documentary in 2006, Zarrelli managed to progress to a career in semi-professional football and soon moved to Scotland where he played with Ardeer Thistle and Queens Park,[11] before being loaned out to Irvine Meadow. He then moved back to England in 2010, to play with Northwich Victoria[12] Hucknall Town[13] and Lincoln Moorlands Railway.[14] In September 2012, he signed as a semi-professional footballer for Diss Town and days after his signature, club chairman Dicky Upson said that "he will be judged on his footballing ability", adding, "We are aware of what happened in the past, which was several years ago. The programme is still on YouTube and I have seen it. I have met and spoken with Alex and told him he will be judged on his footballing ability and nothing else at our club".[15] In February 2013, he signed on loan for Downham Town.[16]

Downham boss Pete Brassett said about his new signing, "When I first met Alex he was very honest. He told me all about what has happened in the past. We will move forward and it doesn't really affect me or the club. The past is the past – without a doubt he's got his life back on track. Some people would have buried their head in the sand but he's come through it, picked himself back up again, and I respect him for that."[16] In August 2013, Zarrelli joined Long Melford.[17] He later moved on to Erith & Belvedere in January 2014 until the end of the season and would eventually suffer relegation from the Isthman League.[18] Zarrelli joined Eastbourne Town in June 2014, where he signed a short term deal until September. When the deal expired he moved to Sheppey United. He went on to sign for Selkirk FC in the Scottish Lowland League

In July 2015 he joined St Cuthbert Wanderers where he helped the Scottish Club winning a South of Scotland Football League Treble in the season 2015/16. At the end of that season he joined Boston Town for one game only in order to help them pin the Lincolnshire Senior Cup Final that the Lincolnshire Club eventually lost 2–1.[19]

He joined Grimsby Borough in August 2016,[20] but after an unconvincing spell by November[21] he was sent on loan to Heather St John's.[22] In January 2017, Zarrelli then got a move to Corsham Town[23] playing for manager and friend Nigel Tripp; however after turmoil within the Club and the sacking of the Manager most of the players left in protest and he was sent on loan to UWE where he scored in the only game played for the Club. After an EGM at Corsham Town a new Club Board extraordinarily reinstalled Tripp as Manager and Zarrelli was recalled from his loan to finish the season at the Club helping them to avoid relegation and scoring 2 goals in due course. Zarrelli left Corsham Town by mutual consent a few days after Tripp's resignation at the end of the season.

Zarrelli returned to Wales 12 years after the Super Fakes Welsh controversy in an unexpected move and joined Welsh side Port Talbot Town in July 2017.[24]

Notes

  1. ^ Zarrelli is often incorrectly named in most sources as "Alessandro Zarelli".

References

  1. ↑ Caney, Gavin. "Footballer exposed in Sky TV's Superfakes, Alessandro Zarrelli, signs for Downham Town". edp24.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 "TV's tough tackle on football 'star'". North Wales Daily Post. 19 June 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Superfake Zarelli On Sky Tv". Welsh-premier.com. 2006-06-22. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  4. ↑ "Zarelli ... who's he?". North Wales Daily Post. 10 October 2005. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "web archive 48". Blue.srv2.com. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  6. ↑ "'Conman' fleeces Welsh football". North Wales Daily Post. 10 October 2005. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Football Fake". fraserglen.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  8. ↑ "UK | Wales | North West Wales | Alert over Italian soccer 'star'". BBC News. 2005-10-10. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  9. ↑ Sam Wollaston. "Remember, it's only a game ... | Culture". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  10. ↑ "AFC Wimbledon Fake Bobby Shillinde And Football's Biggest Con Artists". sabotagetimes.com. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "Summer Moves (Part Eleven) | Pitchero Non League". Nonleague.pitchero.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  12. ↑ "Northwich Vics 1 – 2 Falkirk". Northwichvics.co.uk. 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  13. ↑ "Poor concentration leads to downfall!". Pitchero.com. 2011-09-17. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  14. ↑ "Boro 3 Lincoln Moorlands Railway 1". Scarboroughathletic.com. 2012-01-28. Archived from the original on 2013-08-06. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  15. ↑ "Alessandro Zarrelli will be judged on his footballing ability at Diss Town – Non-league – Green Un". Greenun24.co.uk. 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  16. 1 2 "Footballer exposed in Sky TV's Superfakes, Alessandro Zarrelli, signs for Downham Town – Local football – Eastern Daily Press". Edp24.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  17. ↑ http://www.longmelfordfootballclub.com/news_87582.html
  18. ↑ "Latest Moves..... – Pitchero Non-League". pitchero.com. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  19. ↑ "Late penalty drama sees Boston Town exit Lincs Senior Trophy". bostonstandard.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  20. ↑ "Alessandro Zarrelli – First Team (M) – Grimsby Borough F.C." pitchero.com. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  21. ↑ "Zarrelli Leaves Wilderness Boys – Pitchero Non-League". pitchero.com. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  22. ↑ "Heather St Johns 0 vs. 2 Atherstone Town – 26 November 2016 – 1st Team – Heather St John's FC". pitchero.com. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  23. ↑ "Corsham-Town Player Statistics Corsham Town – Corsham, Wiltshire". corshamtownfc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  24. ↑ https://www.porttalbottown.co.uk/?page_id=125

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