Umm so about this Lewis Tiller kid.
I was playing for Glenfield Rovers ressies today.
We played East Coast Bays.
There was a kid called Lewis playing and he didn't seem that great as a player.
I got hold of the match day program, and it turns out it is Lewis Tiller.
I thought this kid was at West Ham, or on trial?
This Lewis Tiller thing was misrepresented by the NZ media.
The media said that he was "the only kid from hundreds who trialed in Australasia to be selected for West Ham's u-18 team"
The reality is that West Ham run a commercial racket whereby they hold competitions (not real trials) around the world and the winners get to travel to London at their own cost for one game against a Hammers academy team.
It's called "The Elite Academy Experience" and hardly anyone who goes to London gets signed.
Those selected for the academy experience are required to pay their own way to and from London, which carries a total cost of about $5500..
While there, the player will train and have a game against the West Ham United academy team and also receive a complete set of training kit, a behind-the-scenes tour of the Boleyn Ground, West Ham's stadium, and tickets to a Hammers game in the EPL.
Not at all the same thing as being scouted by an EPL club and invited for proper trials or being offered a place in a youth team.
However, this Tiller kid must have some ability, because Bret Angell has included him in his Hawkes Bay SS Premiership squad after he initially played pre-season games for Hamilton Wanderers.