What's new

South London new hot bed of football

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
This is slightly remarkable a current England U21 possible team all from South London. And there’s probably a load I’ve missed as well.

Bettinelli
Wan-bissaka Gomez Clark-salter sessegnon
Chalobah RLC
Hudson-Odoi sancho Nelson
Abraham

I wonder if this is just some kind of freak or if the coaching infrastructure is just better. I guess you can’t ignore the fact also that the 10 outfield players are black or mixed race. Not sure really what conclusion you can draw from that.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
This is slightly remarkable a current England U21 possible team all from South London. And there’s probably a load I’ve missed as well.

Bettinelli
Wan-bissaka Gomez Clark-salter sessegnon
Chalobah RLC
Hudson-Odoi sancho Nelson
Abraham

I wonder if this is just some kind of freak or if the coaching infrastructure is just better. I guess you can’t ignore the fact also that the 10 outfield players are black or mixed race. Not sure really what conclusion you can draw from that.

The mandem are taking over! :cool:

Joking but there's always been talent in London just like there has been all over the UK, it's just now there's a pipeline for young players to progress and make it, it seems like the FA and clubs are starting to take young players seriously and players are starting to wise up and make better decisions in terms of their careers.
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,562
The black/mixed race thing is an interesting phenomenon, we see it all over the world and especially in bigger cities. The "white" middle and upper class boys (and girls) don't have the same drive as the inner-city kids from poor areas. They have cushy, easy lives, why bother straining yourself to succeed in sport when you'll probably have a comfortable life anyway? Passion for the sport and a certain talent only gets you so far, most people need more than just that.

I watched a UCL magazine feature on Sancho before the second leg, he talked about street football in Southwark and how he and his friends were always out on the streets playing because it was the only thing they had in their lives that was fun. I'm sure a lot of the other players you list have the same experience growing up.

We see it in Paris, where you could name an XI of players who come from the poorer suburbs of Paris that could take on any team in the world. Just the same principle. The kids from those areas "need" to succeed in sport to get out of the gangs, the drugs, the poverty, because the schools aren't good enough and they don't have a social network that will help them achieve anything in most other walks of life. That is a huge motivating factor.
 

hellava_tough

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2005
9,429
12,382
The black/mixed race thing is an interesting phenomenon, we see it all over the world and especially in bigger cities. The "white" middle and upper class boys (and girls) don't have the same drive as the inner-city kids from poor areas. They have cushy, easy lives, why bother straining yourself to succeed in sport when you'll probably have a comfortable life anyway? Passion for the sport and a certain talent only gets you so far, most people need more than just that.

I watched a UCL magazine feature on Sancho before the second leg, he talked about street football in Southwark and how he and his friends were always out on the streets playing because it was the only thing they had in their lives that was fun. I'm sure a lot of the other players you list have the same experience growing up.

We see it in Paris, where you could name an XI of players who come from the poorer suburbs of Paris that could take on any team in the world. Just the same principle. The kids from those areas "need" to succeed in sport to get out of the gangs, the drugs, the poverty, because the schools aren't good enough and they don't have a social network that will help them achieve anything in most other walks of life. That is a huge motivating factor.

Agree with this.

But is it a good thing?

Does it imply that poorer areas are now full of black people, who are struggling to break into the "cushy, easy life" of the middle-class?

It's interesting how sub-continent Asians and Far-East Asians have a lower representation in many sports, yet these ethnic groups tend to have a high proportion of middle and upper-class professionals in the societies of the Western World.
 

Rocksuperstar

Isn't this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have?
Jun 6, 2005
53,290
66,758
This could be disastrous! What are all them night-shift cabbies going to talk about? None of them will know who any of these lads are, they don't go sarf, sorry mate.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
The black/mixed race thing is an interesting phenomenon, we see it all over the world and especially in bigger cities. The "white" middle and upper class boys (and girls) don't have the same drive as the inner-city kids from poor areas. They have cushy, easy lives, why bother straining yourself to succeed in sport when you'll probably have a comfortable life anyway? Passion for the sport and a certain talent only gets you so far, most people need more than just that.

I think that's a massive sweeping generalisation to be honest. There are plenty of white and black kids from comfortable backgrounds who are highly motivated, driven people and there are plenty of white and black people from poor areas who are unmotivated and lazy. People from upper class background probably have more opportunities to pursue other activities/careers than people from poor backgrounds do so it's far more likely to be down to that than that people who grew up well-off aren't motivated. To say that white middle-class kids don't have any drive is just flat out wrong IMO and is just another unhelpful generalisation It's just like the way middle-aged people are constantly writing off so-called "millenials" as all being useless because they spend their whole time being given "participation tophies" or some bollocks that isn't true.

Why can't we just celebrate the fact that we're producing some highly-rated young players rather than turning it into another class or race debate?
 

Marty

Audere est farce
Mar 10, 2005
39,885
62,562
I think that's a massive sweeping generalisation to be honest. There are plenty of white and black kids from comfortable backgrounds who are highly motivated, driven people and there are plenty of white and black people from poor areas who are unmotivated and lazy. People from upper class background probably have more opportunities to pursue other activities/careers than people from poor backgrounds do so it's far more likely to be down to that than that people who grew up well-off aren't motivated. To say that white middle-class kids don't have any drive is just flat out wrong IMO and is just another unhelpful generalisation It's just like the way middle-aged people are constantly writing off so-called "millenials" as all being useless because they spend their whole time being given "participation tophies" or some bollocks that isn't true.

Why can't we just celebrate the fact that we're producing some highly-rated young players rather than turning it into another class or race debate?
I can see why you interpret my post like that, but it really isn't what I was trying to say. I know very well that if white middle class boys hadn't had any drive we wouldn't have had Kane, amongst many others.

I mentioned later in my post that "they don't have a social network that will help them achieve anything in most other walks of life". That is probably the bit that should've been my main focus. Kids from middle class and/or priveliged backgrounds have so many doors open and so many places life can take them, if they have the drive and will to succeed they can do whatever they want in life, including but not limited to sports. Kids from poorer backgrounds don't have the same opportunities and are far more likely to put their eggs in one basket, which very often is sports.
 

'O Zio

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2014
7,405
13,785
I can see why you interpret my post like that, but it really isn't what I was trying to say. I know very well that if white middle class boys hadn't had any drive we wouldn't have had Kane, amongst many others.

I mentioned later in my post that "they don't have a social network that will help them achieve anything in most other walks of life". That is probably the bit that should've been my main focus. Kids from middle class and/or priveliged backgrounds have so many doors open and so many places life can take them, if they have the drive and will to succeed they can do whatever they want in life, including but not limited to sports. Kids from poorer backgrounds don't have the same opportunities and are far more likely to put their eggs in one basket, which very often is sports.

Thanks for clarifying. We're in agreement then (y)
 

whitesocks

The past means nothing. This is a message for life
Jan 16, 2014
4,652
5,738
This is not a mystery. Currently black boys often physically develop very early.
Physicality is part of the game so they excel in their age groups.
Of course only .01% will actually play professionally, and they will mostly be the ones whose parents can afford to ferry them around the country.
There are many areas other than South London with a large black/mixed race population, but maybe South London is the wealthiest and a good percentage have broken through into the middle class.

50 years ago the Irish players were the big physical guys who developed early and seemed to dominate the game. Spurs and arsenal used to have a rich history of Irish internationals as did Liverpool and ManU.
I don't think the Irish were out competed, but just the next generations have just returned to the scrawny norm.
 

Saoirse

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2013
6,143
15,550
This is not a mystery. Currently black boys often physically develop very early.
Physicality is part of the game so they excel in their age groups.
Of course only .01% will actually play professionally, and they will mostly be the ones whose parents can afford to ferry them around the country.
There are many areas other than South London with a large black/mixed race population, but maybe South London is the wealthiest and a good percentage have broken through into the middle class.

50 years ago the Irish players were the big physical guys who developed early and seemed to dominate the game. Spurs and arsenal used to have a rich history of Irish internationals as did Liverpool and ManU.
I don't think the Irish were out competed, but just the next generations have just returned to the scrawny norm.
I think this is mostly it. Also joins into the fact that there's a very large young Asian population in London now, but very, very few of them end up in professional football.
 
Top