Latest news with #JosephBol
The Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
I was jailed for robbery aged 15 before becoming a drug dealer and rapper – but now I'm an academy scout for Arsenal
JOSEPH BOL has gone from dealing drugs, getting stabbed by rival gangs and spending three separate stints in prison, to helping Arsenal uncover new talent as an academy scout. Bol, 39, has turned his life around, putting crime in his rear-view mirror and excelling as a football scout. 7 7 Bol works as Arsenal 's grassroots academy coordinator for East London, helping the Gunners identify the best talent across U9s to U14s level. It's far cry from what he was doing at a similar age to the youngsters, with Bol being sent to prison for three years at just 15 years old for robbery. He also found himself wrapped up in dealing Class A drugs and ultimately being convicted for that too. Speaking to The Times, he recalled: "I wanted things my mum didn't deem necessary, like designer clothes, trainers, and that led me down a slippery slope. "I stopped playing football and I started selling and smoking weed, and then it went on to be more Class A drugs. I was just in a bubble thinking this is going to be my career path." After being let out of prison for the first time, Bol turned his attention to rap music - amassing millions of YouTube views for his songs about crime. He added: "I came out and got adulation from my peers, it boosts your ego, and I just started rapping about what I was going through. "It was more about selling drugs. We didn't really have postcode wars at the time.' 7 Bol, who recalled taking Maths and English GCSEs in a young offenders' institute, was still wrapped up in the world of crime for some time. And was even stabbed in the arm and leg while sitting in the front seat of his car by four members of rival gang at one point. But after turning 21 and finisng himself in an adult prison, Bol's life changed thanks an officer who encouraged him to complete FA Level One and Community Sports Leader coaching courses. He recalled that decision helped him "break the cycle" and he started to volunteer at a local football club when he was released from prison. In 2012 he set up his own grassroots team, AC United, which snowballed into an eight-team club with performances catching the attention of top scouts. Bol continued rapping about his old life at the same time, earning a reputation under his stage name "Joe Black", and even performed as a support act for hip-hop superstar Rick Ross. 7 Unexpectedly, it was his rap career that helped Bol land his first proper job in football. A standout player at AC United, Clinton Mola, was invited for a trial at Chelsea - with Bol accompanying him to the training ground. Upon his arrival at Cobham, Bol was mobbed by a group of U14 players - including a young Reece James - who recognised him from his music videos. Recognising the sway and impact that Bol had in the local community, Chelsea decided to hire him as a member of their coaching staff. They also signed Mola, who now plays for Bristol Rovers in League One and represented England from U16 to U21 levels. Bol recalled being concerned that Chelsea would turn him away after a DBS check of his criminal history. He said to The Times: "Rightfully so, because there were obviously reservations after what showed up [on the DBS check]. 'I did a risk assessment and they asked me how I ended up in these situations and what I'd done to change my behaviour to ensure I wouldn't fall back into those old patterns. "Long story short, I think the years I put in coaching unpaid went a long way to overpower the past. 7 "They could see I was making a big effort to make a change. I got the role and I was there for just over five years.' From there Bol's career in football scouting has taken over and he made the switch to Arsenal's academy in 2020 - where he has been ever since. Working alongside academy manager Per Mertesacker, Bol's role is to manage a group of scouts and make sure they are always covering all parts of East London. Along his way he has helped unearth and develop some of of the Premier League's most exciting young talents. Zain Silcott-Duberry, who made his Prem debut for Bournemouth this season, is just one of the youngsters he has had a hand in developing. While 14-year-old Trey Faromo, another Bol has helped identify, is thought to be one of the country's brightest talents and recently made his debut for Chelsea Under-18. Now Bol is targeting a spot as the head of recruitment at a Premier League club, but still recognises how far he has come. He said: "I feel proud of where I'm going. It's good to reflect every once in a while to remember how far I've come" 7 7
Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Meet the ex-convict rapper talent-spotting for Arsenal
One of the Premier League's top academy scouts is a convicted drug dealer and rapper whose lyrics about his old life of crime have garnered millions of views on YouTube. Joseph Bol does not covet attention on the touchline in his role as Arsenal's grassroots recruitment coordinator for east London, for which he is charged with organising a network of talent-spotters focused predominantly on under-9 to under-14 players, but parents and older siblings at youth games still occasionally recognise him as the artist 'Joe Black'. 'The kids always used to say, 'You're famous', but I don't think they understood what for,' Bol says. 'They may have thought it was for football.' It has been 15 years since Bol, 39, was released from prison for a third and final time. Ordinarily, a DBS check that showed convictions for robbery and possession of class A drugs with intent to supply — Bol spent a year in prison on remand for a third charge on which he was found not guilty — would preclude him from working with minors, let alone within the academies at Crystal Palace, Chelsea and then Arsenal. Yet, several of the players Bol discovered are now on the cusp of making their first-team breakthroughs, such as Zain Silcott-Duberry (Bournemouth) and Amani Richards (Leicester City). Trey Faromo, a 14-year-old winger, is considered one of the country's brightest talents and recently made his debut for Chelsea Under-18. It is a rare and quite remarkable story of reinvention. When Bol is not watching all manner of school, district, and league matches, he is a tutor at City Select Academy, a specialist college in Croydon for sixth formers harbouring faint but fading dreams of playing professional football. 'They may have not gone down the same road as committing crime, but it's just being someone relatable to them [saying] that their route might be a bit different, but it's definitely not over, and just being there for them,' he says. 'There are loads of people in my position who made mistakes early in their lives and think, 'That's it, I'm never going to be able to excel.' People are shocked that I work for Arsenal so it's just being an example that you can still do it, and it's not just football. 'The first age group I started coaching [in 2012], they're like 25 now. Sometimes growing up on estates you think football is the only way out, but one of them is a firefighter now. He always says to me that I was very influential in making him feel like, 'Don't waste your time, find your purpose as soon as possible', and that gives me just as much satisfaction as seeing a player make it at a professional level. So that's my mission: to use football as a tool for kids to have a better start because a lot of these skills are transferable.' Bol grew up on the Highbury Estate in north London and his mother worked as a civil servant in Brent Town Hall. He had been a talented footballer himself but he was seduced by the perceived glamour of crime in his early teens. 'I wanted things my mum didn't deem necessary, like designer clothes, trainers, and that led me down a slippery slope. I stopped playing football and I started selling and smoking weed, and then it went on to be more class A drugs. I was just in a bubble thinking this is going to be my career path,' says Bol, who was sentenced to three years in prison for robbery aged 15 and sat his maths and English GCSEs in a young offenders' institute. When he was released after 18 months, 'it didn't really sink in that I'd actually served that much time,' he says. 'I came out and got adulation from my peers, it boosts your ego, and I just started rapping about what I was going through. It was more about selling drugs. We didn't really have postcode wars at the time.' A member of the so-called Highbury Boys, Bol was stabbed in the arm and leg while sitting in the front seat of his car by four boys from a rival gang when he was 18. Undeterred, he was arrested again in 2004 after being caught selling drugs as part of a county lines network. The bubble finally burst when he turned 21 and was transferred to an adult prison. After being caught with a mobile phone, an officer vowed to get Bol a job in the gym if he behaved well and encouraged him to complete FA Level One and Community Sports Leader coaching courses. 'That helped me figure out that I needed to break the cycle and change my outlook. When I came out, I started volunteering at a local football club run by my friend. It was called A Class FC. Imagine,' Bol says, laughing. 'But I caught the bug and I've been doing it ever since.' Bol continued to rap about his old life and earned a 'liveable wage' as his popularity grew, pressing his own CDs and taking them to independent record shops in the days before streaming. He was even once a support act to Rick Ross when the American hip-hop mogul played in London, but football remained his foremost passion. In 2012, he set up his own grassroots club called AC United and it quickly grew from having one team to eight. Their performances in local cups attracted the attention of scouts such as Joe Shields, now a senior director within Chelsea's academy, who got Bol a job as an academy scout and development coach at Crystal Palace. Bol's big breakthrough came when the standout player at AC United, Clinton Mola, was invited for a trial at Chelsea. He accompanied Mola to the training ground and was mobbed by several of the under-14 players, including the likes of Reece James, much to the confusion of the academy staff. Seemingly realising the sway his fame could have, Chelsea ultimately decided to sign them both — Mola, 24, who now plays for Bristol Rovers, went on to represent England from under-16 to under-21 level. 'I'm still amazed that it happened. It wasn't by design. It was just because of the quality of players we had in our team,' Bol says. 'The original question was, 'Do I know anyone who would be interested in scouting for Chelsea in north London?' I said, 'Yeah, me.' ' Bol feared his criminal history would caused Chelsea to baulk. 'Rightfully so, because there were obviously reservations after what showed up [on the DBS check],' he says. 'I did a risk assessment and they asked me how I ended up in these situations and what I'd done to change my behaviour to ensure I wouldn't fall back into those old patterns. Long story short, I think the years I put in coaching unpaid went a long way to overpower the past. They could see I was making a big effort to make a change. I got the role and I was there for just over five years.' ALAN STANFORD/PPAUK/SHUTTERSTOCK There is not necessarily a secret art to scouting. 'It wasn't a conventional job with set hours, it was just having my ear to the ground, my eyes on the grass, and trying to find the best player in north London,' he says. Using the network of contacts he had built up as a coach, Bol would receive tip-offs about talented youngsters and attend countless matches every week to draw his own conclusions. Since joining Arsenal in 2020, his role is slightly more administrative, ensuring that a group of scouts are always covering all parts of east London and then similarly putting names forward for possible trials. 'There are a bunch of people involved in the decision-making and then Per Mertesacker [Arsenal's academy manager] may have the final sign off,' he says. Bol's end goal is to become the head of academy recruitment at a Premier League club so his voice is the crucial element in that decision-making process. 'There are still lingering doubts in my head that because of my past maybe there is a ceiling [on what role he can have], but so far there hasn't been. If there is, I created it myself, but I feel proud of where I'm going,' he says. 'It's good to reflect every once in a while to remember how far I've come.'
