Football in the streets
Childhood is a crucial part of all of our lives. The first friendships, schools and adventures take place in those innocent early years. A child’s actions can go far, and will mould and form the youngster in many ways, and moments can change them for the rest of their existence. One of the clearest memories I have of my most early years is playing football out on my street. Returning from school, franticly changing out of the confines of my uniform and into whatever clothes were the most easily available to me, careless of the fact that my uniform lay in a chaos on the floor as if i had simply evaporated from it. The next port of call was to find a teammate and I had the perfect man for the job. Hurtling up the hill, I would arrive at the house of Innes, a best friend who was more than prepared for an evening of curbie, wally or the simple bliss of just taking shots at each other, an effortless joy that many can relate to. Those nights of endless football are an essential piece of many people’s childhood and in recent years such behaviour has become less and less common place in Britain. Walking out my door today, I could wander for block upon block before seeing a child even aimlessly kicking a ball against a wall. The streets are barren of jumpers on the ground, and kids arduously attempting to claim their football from the depths of a cars underside. With this shift in a cultural norm, we must question if it will have an impact on the footballers of our nation, or is it a innocent fun of childhood that doesn’t really breed footballers as well as an academy or club can?
Many footballers have praised street football and the positive impact it had on their careers. Riyad Mahrez, who grew up in France, the home of the current world champions, has realised the usefulness of playing outside constantly. ‘In France you can be outside because there are small pitches everywhere and they’re open all the time. We were eating, even sleeping there everyday and everybody does this.’ An early life in which players breathe football in every waking minute is vital for young talent, and the access in France to local pitches is essential in nurturing football fanatics. Another aspect of street football is the opposition that will face you from your local area. ‘When you see the older doing this when you’re young you want to play, and that’s why there is a lot of talent there.’ The physical and technical demands of facing opponents that are more developed, stronger and more skilful is extremely important and used in academy’s too, with many promising talents being pushed into u18 and reserve teams as soon as possible to speed up their development. Being able to challenge yourself daily against your elders is certainly a key factor in why the France team itself, with many growing up in similar areas to Mahrez, are so strong, and with the abundance of French talent across Europe at the moment we must look at street football as a really defining factor in their successes.

The late and great legend Johan Cruyff was an other advocate for the streets as a breeding ground for talent. ‘Everything for me started in the street. As kids we spent as much time out of the house as possible; from as early as I can remember we played football everywhere we could. It was here I learned to think about how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.You see that the kerb isn’t actually an obstacle, but that you can turn it into a teammate for a one–two. So thanks to the kerb I was able to work on my technique. When the ball bounces off different surfaces at odd angles, you have to adjust in an instant.’ This early learning made Cruyff the unpredictable and ingenious player he was, turning, passing and shooting at odd angles because of his education on the concrete roads, and the peculiarity of it’s surfaces. It’s also about the hours. Hours and hours of practice on the streets that kids who attend training only twice a week simply don’t get, and these hours are necessary to forge the most creative and best players.

Although this idea, shrouded in nostalgia of simpler times in which it was the norm for footballers to grow and develop in their local parks or streets, seems the answer to creating talented footballers, it may not be the case when we open our gaze to what is happening in this modern time. Academy’s at all levels have benefited from the monetisation of the sport, and have gone through vast improvements. Instead of school football and playing for the local boys club every month or in the holidays, academy players are exposed to high intensity and professional training nearly 5 times a week in some cases. Strength and Conditioning has become ever present in the sport too, and nutrition and gym programs for the developing youth have made them faster, stronger, and far superior athletes to their counterparts in the past. When looking at the results you have to recognise that although their is an elementary beauty to street football in it’s simplicity, the modern technological advances we have seen in the game have improved the game for all of us, something everyone wants. When looking at the England youth teams in the recent years, with the u17 winning the World Cup, and the u21 claiming victory in Europe, it is clear to see that the improvements in the sport are accomplishing successes, all be it only at the highest level, and in doing so creating a greater void in ability between the upper echelons and the normal player on a Sunday with his local team.

Considering this, street football is valuable. It teaches a young player how to navigate fierce and older opposition, whilst avoiding the unforgiving concrete, but it is not essential. The only essential ingredient to success in football is hard work and dedication, that is the real defining factor.
