DRIBBLING TO THE TOP

Bangladeshi born athlete, Taff Rahman grew up in London, England. At the age of 12, Taff was one of the 10 boys to be selected by Arsenal Football Club, to attend the first ever full-time football and education programme in England for youth players from 12-16 years of age. Within the programme, he completed his IGCSE's, while training everyday to develop his game.

"I completed a Sports Science and Coach degree at Roehampton University with the Professional Footballers Association. I chose this subject because I have a deep interest for science. Also my passion is coaching, so participating in a programme that combined the two was a perfect match," says Taff.

Taff had invitations to join Liverpool, Manchester United and various other professional clubs. "It was while I was playing for Queens Park Rangers that I was scouted by Arsenal. I couldn't resist! It was the local team of where I lived!" he shares.

Playing and training at Arsenal was an 'excellent experience', says Taff. The training was technical, creative and very challenging. "The environment was that of excellence, which continued to help drive me to achieving my dreams of becoming a professional footballer," he says. Taff got the opportunity to work with top coaches like former England coach Don Howe.

Taff played in the Arsenal youth and reserve team level, where he was surrounded by World Cup winners like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Viera, Dennis Bergkamp, and others. "I later went on to play at various professional and semi-professional clubs. Injury derailed my career, and I decided to retire and pursue coaching," he says. At the age of 26, Taff also managed a semi-professional level senior men's team.

According to Taff, Bangladeshi football is slowly developing, but still has a long way to go in order to compete with the top nations in Asia. "It would be great to see more grassroots programmes, improvement in the governance of the game nationally and a well established national league. We are a very passionate nation and love the game, so I really hope we can improve in the coming years," says Taff.

In the future, he plans to coach at the top level, and the premiership is his main priority. "In resent times I have been offered opportunities to coach at professional level in the UK and abroad with clubs and national teams, which I am looking into with close detail to see what fits my future and ambitions best. The coming year will be interesting as I am looking to make key decisions on this," he says.

Taff believes there is a lot of talent in Bangladesh and young players need to practice individually and collectively, develop their technical game, and play in the national league. "While there is a lack of football education in Bangladesh from what have seen from my visits, I would say players need to access learning resources through watching games, media platforms such as YouTube and of course working with coaches where possible."

Taff will be visiting Bangladesh in December 2015 to deliver a coach education programme and develop various projects to help player development in the country. "I aim to support the development of football in Bangladesh and dream is to push the national team to the top level in Asia and beyond."