Nelly Yoa
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nhial "Nelly" Yoa | ||
| Date of birth | 28 June 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | El Renk, Sudan | ||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in) | ||
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Nhial "Nelly" Yoa (born 28 June 1988) is a purported motivational speaker and youth ambassador at Afri-Aus Care, where he mentors troubled youth.[1][2]
The veracity of his claims, in relation to community work, professional sports involvement, and discourse with political figures, has been questioned. Several claims he has made have been discounted as untrue, including that the Prime Minister of Australia congratulated him on an article about youth violence.[3][4]
Early life[edit]
Nelly Yoa was born in El Renk, Sudan,[5] moved to Australia as a Sudanese refugee in 2003.[6]
In 2011, when Yoa was 23 years old, he was badly injured during a brawl started by a violent African street gang at a Sudanese beauty pageant in the suburb of Braybrook, Melbourne, Australia. The gang, consisting of 25 to 30 persons[7] and armed with machetes, knives and golf clubs, slashed Yoa on the elbow, wrist and several times on the knee.[8] At the time, Yoa was told by doctors he may not walk again after 13 days in hospital, 170 stitches and several broken bones.[9][10] He commented on the injuries: "I was told if the cut had been any deeper, I would've been permanently paralysed."[8]
The attack was a major setback. Yoa almost lost his life, and spent seven months recovering from anterior cruciate ligament surgery.[5]
A short documentary, titled Offside — The Real Nelly Yoa Story, details Yoa's recovery from the 2011 machete attack and attempted resurrection of his purported soccer career.[8] The 15-minute film directed by Prashanth Raj re-enacts the events of the attack.[11]
Career[edit]
Community work[edit]
Yoa claims to have worked with troubled youths as a way of helping their psychological healing process.[12] After initially becoming known to the wider public through an appearance on Sunrise, Yoa became a purported voice of the Melbourne Sudanese community, giving advise and feedback to the Victorian Government who had approached him after hearing his backstory.[2] His work with new and emerging communities was said be aimed at removing the divide between people with different backgrounds.[13] Yoa claims to have mentored young people, including some formerly linked to the Apex gang in Melbourne,[13] which has been associated with violent carjackings and burglaries.[12][14]
Doubts have since been raised that Yoa has actually done any community work or mentoring of youth after questions where first raised about his sporting career.[3]
Sport[edit]
Yoa claimed that he had been on the verge of a multi-million dollar contract with Melbourne Victory Football Club prior to the 2011 machette attack.[12][2] This would have made him one of the club's highest paid players, despite never having played professional football before.[7] In 2013, Yoa claimed that he trialled at Chelsea FC and Queens Park Rangers, however when contacted QPR said they had no record of Yoa trialling with them,[4] and his claims of training with Chelsea are equally unsupported.[2] Yoa went on to play for non-professional team Qormi in the Maltese second division while turning down offers from Australian and Asia.[15][16][17] He returned to Australia in 2015.
In 2016, Yoa claimed he unsuccessfully trialled for Melbourne City FC,[18] however the club has stated that Yoa never trialled, trained, signed a contract or was on the verge of signing a contract with the club.[19] It was reported that both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City refused to offer Yoa a trial after assessing his past football experience.[2] Yoa was said to have been given contact details for the clubs from government contacts and claimed that Premier Daniel Andrews had promised to help him get signed to an A-League club.[2]
It was reported in 2016 that he was accompanied by friends Usain Bolt and John Steffensen to the hospital for the birth of his child.[20] Steffensen has since said that neither he nor Bolt were present, and neither are believed to be friends with Yoa.[2]
Following his lack of success in association football, Yoa changed his focus to Australian rules football in 2016.[12][18] He claims to have had a training session with the Collingwood reserve team during the VFL pre-season in 2017.[13] Yoa made his debut for the Rowville reserves team on 3 June 2017 against Blackburn at Seebeck Oval,[21][12] playing 10 games including a qualifying final. Yoa did not appear in the reserves semi-final or grand final, and did not make an appearance for the senior team.[22][23]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Oz African TV". 2 January 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Bucci, Nino; Colangelo, Anthony (2018-01-08). "The facade created by Nhial 'Nelly' Yoa starts to crack". The Age. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Colangelo, Anthony; Bucci, Nino (7 January 2018). "Questions raised over credibility of South Sudanese commentator Nelly Yoa". The Age. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rugari, Vince; Livingston, Angus. "Questions over Sudanese youth claims". The Australian. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Nelly Yoa - a hero and his journey". Victoria State Government. Victoria. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ↑ "We have an issue with Sudanese gangs – here's how we can tackle it". The Age. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "African tribal wars on the streets of Melbourne: Soccer player lost his career after being hacked up by Sudanese men armed with machete". Daily Mail. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Youth mentor Nelly Yoa's tale of machete attack survival now on youtube". Greater Dandenong Leader. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Back on side". Dandenong Star Journal. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Mentor Nelly Yoa says Apex gang members feel 'left out' of community". news.com.au. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Back onside after machete attack". Dandenong Star Journal. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 "Nelly's dream is still alive". Dandenong Star Journal. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Youth mentor Nelly Yoa aims to inspire other young Africans". Hume Leader. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Political Correctness, Racial Profiling and Policing". Sydney Criminal Lawyers. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ↑ "Qormi set to sign Australian striker". The Malta Independent. Malta. 28 July 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Promising former Chelsea trialist set to sign for Qormi". Malta Independent. Malta. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ Busuttil, Antoine (4 August 2013). "Floriana win AME Cup". www.maltafootball.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Nelly Yoa has sights set on a spot on an AFL list". Moorabbin Glen Eira Leader. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
- ↑ "Whoa Nelly! The outragous sporting claims of Nelly Yoa". The World Game. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ↑ Black, Jessica (7 Nov 2016). "Baby Bolt: baby's early birth brings fastest man to Ballarat". The Ballarat Courier.
- ↑ "Rowville v Blackburn: 1st Division Reserves 2017: Eastern Football League (EFL) Match Centre". SportsTG. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ↑ "Nelly Yoa - Player Statistics". SportsTG. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- ↑ "Statistics for Rowville playing in 1st Division Reserves 2017". SportsTG. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
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