Nestory Irankunda is one of Australian football’s brightest talents; tipped as a future Socceroo, a face of the A-League Men, a key cog in Adelaide United’s attack, and the subject of reported interest from Bayern Munich. He is also 17 years old. In the legal sense, he is not even an adult; unable to vote, drink alcohol, or move overseas to continue to take the next step in his career until his 18th birthday next February.
Both of these things are true. And yet their simultaneous validity creates an awkward level of angst – the nuances, expectations and conventions they would generally grind against each other, if not operate in outright opposition. It’s not a particularly modern problem. Teenagers and elite sport are nothing new, but it is heightened in this modern digital age.
