Becks mania kickstarts in US

Contrary to cynicism, the medio has already set the ball rolling

It wasn’t meant to happen this quickly.

When football superstar David Beckham signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy earlier this month, the hope was that over the course of his five-year contract he would raise the profile of the world’s most popular sport and make it a part of the everyday lives of the average American.

But just weeks after the sensational deal, the signs are that the $250 million Beckham is supposed to earn during his stay in Los Angeles could be one of the bargains of the century.

Already, the handsome player with the film star looks is featuring in a Disney endorsement as a dashing Prince Charming riding a white horse and slaying a fire-eating dragon.

On Tuesday, just days before the Superbowl, traditionally the biggest event in the US sporting calendar, the Los Angeles Times led its sports section with a story about football — and not the strange American variety that is played mostly with your hands.

“Oh, Now You Like Soccer” was the headline on the story which reported how Beckham’s new team had been flooded with applications for tryouts in which unknown players can compete in trials at the team’s training camp and make it to the first XI.

Team manager Alexi Lalas also compared the invasion to the frenzy surrounding the country’s top reality television show.

Given that level of excitement it’s perhaps not surprising that Hollywood should be taking notice. Football films have never been much of a draw in the US. Last summer the epic production “Goal!” did not even make it into the top 10, while a few years ago “Bend It Like Beckham” never managed to break out of the art cinema circuit.

But last week a bitter bidding war erupted among some of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, who all coveted the rights to an intriguing football story first published in the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

The story is about ‘Fugees’, a team of young teenage refugees from Africa and the Middle East settled in a town in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.

The team of poor immigrants, coached by Lumah Mefleh, a determined woman from Jordan, has battled with the local mayor to gain access to the city’s parks, and endured racial and ethnic slurs during matches.

But they persevered to become one of the strongest teams in the area, boosting the self-esteem of the players and proving that all the old adages about the uplifting power of the beautiful game really are more than just overworked clichés.

Since the New York Times article, the Fugees have been treated like local celebrities wherever they play. The Hollywood battle was eventually won by Universal Pictures, which is paying more than $2 million for the rights to the story, plus another $500,0000 to get the team a training facility of its own.