Unemployed fisherman becomes Internet soccer star

A man in Wales whose soccer career has consisted only of kicking a ball around a parking lot has earned an invitation to the World Freestyle Football Championship, according to the Daily Mail.

Andrew Cassidy's Internet stardom apparently began when locals in the town of Milford Haven recorded a video of him quietly practicing and posted it on a Facebook page.

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The people recording were impressed, judging by their astonished reaction and repeated swearing. Locals commented on the video, calling Cassidy a legend and marveling that he was agile despite his size. One person commented that she had seen him alone in that parking lot kicking a ball around more than a decade ago.

Somehow, between the buzz of local discussions on the page about sheds and arguments about cleaning up after dogs, the video got picked up, first by users online and then by the media.

A local legend became an Internet star.

Cassidy told the Daily Mail that he started practicing "keepy-uppy" — that means keeping the ball up, folks — after he lost his job as a fisherman in 2002. Several years later at the age of 50, he was good enough to earn an invitation to the World Freestyle Football Championships in Dubai, the Daily Mail reported.

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The story says the unemployed fisherman will fly first class to Dubai and stay in a high-end hotel, on the event organizers' dime.