It is responsible for the running and development of schools competitions and festivals at primary and secondary school age. Lever was so keen on football that he used to watch us playing in the school-yard during the break. Mortensen was seen by a Blackpool scout while playing for South Shields Ex-Schoolboys and he later became a regular member of the England team that included Wilf Mannion, Raich Carter, Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews. When a goal was scored, the ball would be returned to the centre of the waste ground for the game to restart. I just went to the village school. But, all the same, the back alleys did hold some valuable lessons of their own. Coats would be piled for posts and the game of football would get under way. I was doing so in splendid isolation, never realising that not every boy was getting up at the crack of dawn like me, going through a rigorous physical workout of sprints and shuttles and honing ball skills at every given opportunity. Go out with a couple of pals, chalk a goal on the nearest gable end and start some shooting or heading practice with a tennis ball. By 1926, unemployment in the town had reached 19,000 and half the yards launched no ships. However, in April 2015, the Football Association decided to withdraw from the tournament "for the foreseeable future" with the stated aim of replacing it with matches against Euro… The England national football team represents the country of England in … In his autobiography, The Way It Was, Matthews described his feelings about playing in the game: "When I ran down the tunnel for the first time in an England shirt, I was bursting with pride. At that time, Alex James and Hughie Gallacher, also lived in the same mining village. Sid Owen, screen actor; Eastenders, They would be about eighteen or nineteen, I suppose, I about nine or ten. Tim Ayers, lead guitar, The Days, Paul Armstrong 2000–2008. Only the best would do for him, and he soon spotted that as a boy of eight I had quite a shot with my right foot but used my left foot purely for standing on. Ross Millard, guitar and vocals, The Futureheads, I had made a point of saying to my parents that I didn't want them to watch the game, partly because I thought it would unnerve me and partly because, with four sons to bring up, I knew they were on a tight budget and a trip to Bournemouth would have made quite a hole in my dad's weekly wage at the barber's shop. Mercer later pointed out: "Back alley football is only a substitute for the real thing. He pointed out: "Too many youths and men play football to obtain exercise, but this is quite wrong: exercise should, nay, must precede match football, or harm from exposure and over-straining is bound to ensue. Once you got hold of the ball, you didn't let it go too easily. Of course, that was not a conscious thought at the time, but looking back, those kickabout games on the waste ground did prepare us for life. I realised what a feat this was when my headmaster, Mr Terry, said how pleased he was with the way I had played and gave me sixpence. It will have been noticed that I proclaim it still, and that is because, as young as I was and as small and insignificant though little Bellshill might seem in the big world of football, I saw magic in those early days, the magic of two of the greatest footballers in the game's history in one small village. We didn't need a referee; we accepted the rules of the game and stuck by them. The 'Thistle' Club was one of them. He never knew it, but Alex James played a major part in my development...We played until our legs gave way - scores of 15-13 were not uncommon - and I never stopped running. He had some early sprinting successes which stimulated his Aunt Jen to make him some silk running shorts and a vest with a big 'H' on it from Uncle Ted's underwear. The youngest ever professional player?It was around this time that another teacher at the school, Mr Slack, picked me at outside-right for the school team. Len Shackleton went to school in Bradford. We had no referee or linesman, yet sometimes up to 40 boys would play football for two hours adhering to the rules as we knew them. Therefore it was natural that my father insisted that, if I became a professional footballer, it would be with Wolves. Martin Reilly, Arena Sports Management, If we played another school we managed to get some kind of strip together, but we played in our shoes. I over-emphasised my thanks to everyone who placed a plate before me or took a bowl away, such was my embarrassment at having adults seemingly at my beck and call, not that I ever dared beckon or call anyone. We were a merry lot, but by and by I had to leave school while I was still very young, and I was rather sorry, I can assure you. Such as it was though, I got to like the game immensely, and I spent as much time as I could kicking the leather. The kickabouts we had in the fields and on the streets were daily events, sometimes involving dozens and dozens of kids. Soccer is a religion with the people in the industrial North, and it is due to people like Mr. Lee, Mr. Milner and Mr. As a youngster in Bolton I played whenever I could, sometimes with a tennis ball, sometimes with a rag ball, and, on special occasions, with a real live football. The first set of laws of the game of football, or soccer as it is known in the US, date from the formation of The Football Association in England in 1863. The best perspectives for Nigerian kids to become talented footballers are in England because it has plenty of football academies that raises and graduates successful players. The First World War had kept Sunderland's shipyards busy and an immediate post-war boom continued to keep employment high. I felt comfortable in the position; it provided more scope for my dribbling skills but I still thought centre-half was my calling. In 1885 the South London Schools FA was founded. Established international football icons such as France National Team Coach Michel Hidalgo, Spain National Team Coach Luis Aragones, Belgian's champions Anderlecht, Standard Liege, and Dutch National Team player Arie Haan, Perugia, Italy's Bruno Redolfi, Barclay's English Premier League's Manchester Football Club, England … Footballers normally become spectators when they are too old to play, but I was a keen fan before starting to play. The custom at the Ocean Queen was sufficient to protect the Carters from the worst of the recession and young Raich remained determined to make his mark in sport. I consoled myself with the thought that there would always be next season. In October 1879, he helped establish the Sunderland and District Teachers' Association Football Club. It was wonderful training for the eye.". Such a call was about as bad as it could be. On entering the office my stomach was churning. He later recalled: "We played all the ruddy time - morning, noon and night. It didn't matter as long as we got goals; and besides, we only played with one another, picking sides among ourselves and having friendly matches in the playground. Find out more The Queen's Park, the leading club in Scotland, adopted the Association rules almost as soon as they were made and of course, most of the other clubs began to follow the example. To get into condition at the beginning of the season is hard work, for while resting superfluous fat has accumulated, some muscles of locomotion have become more or less flabby, the circulatory system is torpid, and the chest muscles and organs of respiration are slow in their action. Not too long ago, colleges pursued these elite players by stuffing mailboxes full of letters and racking up massive long-distance phone bills. The captain was Robert Singleton, the headmaster of Gray School in Sunderland. Natty, solo artist, Carter was a great success and he retained his place in the team the following year. Several scouts from Football League clubs came to watch the Ellesmere Port schoolboys' team, but none of them was ever allowed to talk to me. Mind you, seeing goals chalked on walls was a common sight in Bolton (and I am sure in other places) when I was a lad. It was the game that launched future Scotland captain Paul McStay to prominence, while England's Paul Rideout captured national attention with his hat-trick. If we played another school we managed to get some kind of strip together, but we played in our shoes. Brian MacDonald, finalist X Factor 2006, Little did I know then that he was to have a tremendous influence on my future career, acting in the dual capacity of personal manager and personal coach. There were no particular rules and we played pretty much as we liked; but we thought we were playing the Rugby game, of course, because the Association hadn't started then. [1] The ESFA headquarters is in Stafford. Once you got hold of the ball, you didn't let it go too easily. This time I was transferred to Folds Road Central School, and once again I found the headmaster, a Mr. F. P. Lever, whom I was later to know as "Pop", was a keen football fan. [8], The England Schoolgirls play in the Bob Docherty Cup and the Lloyds TSB Cup. There were two young fellows called Alex James and Hughie Gallacher, for instance. Uncle John always wanted me to be a footballer and he realized how much I would appreciate those studded shoes. It is thought that Glenbuck had provided around fifty players who plied their trade in senior football at least half-a-dozen who played for Scotland - not bad for a village whose population never exceeded twelve hundred. Dad didn't appreciate them so much the first time I tried them out. I was lucky to be in such a team, and to be able to play regularly, for it is in the fourteen to sixteen years period that many boys cannot find opportunities for serious football, and lose interest in the game. Mortensen left school at 14 and found work in a timber yard on Tyneside. I'd always had confidence in my own ability but as I sheepishly hung on the perimeter of the social life at the hotel, I did wonder if I was going to be up to the mark. They were little whippets as footballers go, but they were famous. Chalked goals on walls Burnside Park country once European opposition was West Germany in.... 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