Ex-Union trialist arrested on gun charges

Ex-Philadelphia Union trialist Damani Richards is reportedly being held in his native Trinidad and Tobago “with a loaded firearm and a quantity of marijuana at his Cocorite home” according to a report from Wired868.com. Richards was signed by then Union manager John Hackworth, who infamously said the following about Richards:

Damani is a true left back and we feel as though he had more potential to be developed than any left back we saw in the draft. Yes he’s young and we need to develop him, but this is a player with international experience, who is extremely gifted athletically. The chatter of us needing to draft a left back was laughable because we knew what we had in Damani. - John Hackworth

Unfortunately, for both Hackworth and Richards, things never materialized. The Union waived Richards, who was injured at the time. He signed with the Harrisburg City Islanders, but never caught on and was released.