Last February, Scottish football was shocked by the news of the 15-year-old boy’s detention. The boy was arrested for allegedly making a rude comment on Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths after scoring a goal against East Kilbride in the Scottish Cup. Griffiths himself did not really respond to the case, he preferred to focus on the match against Ross County.
Not once or twice Griffiths were terrorized by opponents. The Scottish national team player is even very familiar with terror. Several times supporters of the enemy even prayed for Griffiths’ four children to die.
Well, what has Griffiths done to be treated like that? What sin has he done so hated by rival supporters? Apparently the answer was because Griffiths did not stop scoring goals.
The achievement of goals created by Griffiths is indeed phenomenal so far. His 26 goals in the Scottish Premier League were scored from 27 appearances with The Hoops. That result also made it into the list of the top 10 top scorers in Europe. In fact he became the youngest player and the only native player in the United Kingdom to fill the list.
However, seeing Griffiths background, no one would have thought he would be this successful. His parents divorced when he didn’t understand anything. He grew up with his father until he was given the opportunity to defend Livingston in 2006.
Griffiths’ introduction to his own football occurred since he was six years old. Griffiths’ parents even registered him with Leith Links, a special community to help underprivileged children with special needs through Hibernian, the Scottish Premier League club.
My father once invited me to watch Hibernian matches because we were registered as Leith Links members. However, I started to understand a little more about football because we always watched the Leith Links U12 and U13 football teams every Saturday and Sunday, Griffiths told the Daily Record.
Often he watched Leith Links play making him indirectly know the people behind the community, especially the coach. Until one day, Leith Links coach Tam Currie was told by Leith Links employees that there were children who could play football.
The good performance of Griffiths made Currie introduce him to many people. Currie reasoned that Griffiths’s potential would reach the top if he was on the professional team. Currie also told John Hughes, Falkirk coach at the time. Hughes even praised Griffiths when he first saw him.
In the end, Griffiths did not strengthen Falkirk because his father asked him to focus on finishing school. Every day I practice football, I always get home at 11:30 a night and in the morning I have to go to school. This routine makes my father want to focus on school. ????
Griffiths is more mature than a professional football career that looks even farther away. He even prefers to join the amateur team to satisfy his passion for playing football on weekends.
Many told me to play for Hutchinson Vale. Besides being the best amateur team in Scotland, their matches were always filled with spectators, Griffiths said. They are also known as a team producing potential players, such as Darren Fletcher, John Collins, Paul Hanlon, Jason Cummings, and many more.
Strengthening the Hutchinson Vale at the amateur level made Griffiths’s career soar. He also recorded his first professional debut with Livingston in the 2006/07 season at the age of 16. After that, no one knew where the money took him away. Dundee United 2009/10, Wolverhampton 2011/12, to Glasgow Celtic 2014/15.
With Celtic being cared for by Ronny Delia, Griffiths began learning to become an opponent’s defense line problem, just like Charlie Nicholas, Brian McClair, Henrik Larsson and Jan Vennegor of Hesselink. Now he has scored 35 goals in all competitions, differing 18 goals from Larsson and 13 goals from Nicholas.
I made their goal record as my target this season. Nicholas notes as much as possible I will chase, while Larsson’s notes are a difficult thing for me. “I still have nine matches left in the league and maybe the final,” Griffiths said.
I want to pursue their record not because I want to be famous, but because I want to be remembered like Larsson, Nicholas, McClair, John Hartson and Chris Sutton. They are all great strikers and I want my name to be remembered like they are, he said.
Seeing Griffiths’ enthusiasm to continue to score goals it would be very natural that his name would be remembered like the striker. However, on one side Celtic must also be vigilant because Griffiths could have played for the big team next season.
ASL
Adrian Limanto
