The Study of English Football [Part IV]: Letting our kids grow up

Just Football’s Study of English Football by Andreas Vou now concludes with Part IV and a look at how we handle youth development in English society compared to abroad. If you missed Part I ,  Part II or Part III follow the respective links:

THE main focus after England’s miserable performance at the 2010 World Cup was to find the cause as to why such a talented side failed so badly. Everything from poor technique, tactical naivety and fatigue from a long season were blamed. Yet The FA’s director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking believed he had a more insightful reason.

The belief at one of the highest echelons of the English Football Association is that the younger an aspiring footballer is put into the first team, the better the player will become. Brooking claims that “The key age is 18 to 20. It is a 24 month period during which young footballers must be stretched. If not, they just go backwards.”

Perhaps it was an idea that was created in order to blame the clubs for youngster’s bad development instead of the FA, as it also hints that the solution lays in others hands as well, but that is for others to decide.

What seems to be a trend in the UK on all levels of society is that kids are being rushed into every new step of life, not just in football. We see this even from the start of a child’s life. In England almost 800,000 children in primary schools are aged four or younger, with around 80 per cent now entering before their fifth birthday. In nearly every other European country the minimum starting age of primary school is six.

What we see are kids who are barely out of their push chairs forced into a dog-eat-dog set up where they have to develop their personalities under the school system among other kids in the same situation. The rest of Europe’s children on the other hand, have two extra years to be more active, develop their own characters, make friends and basically, be kids.

But then again the reason why they start so young in the UK is so that the kids become two years ahead of the rest of Europe in terms of intellect and social interaction. So is that what we find? Definitely not, instead we find quite the opposite. Britain has been ranked bottom out of 21 countries in a United Nations assessment of children’s well-being and this pursuit of becoming an adult prematurely is also the reason why the UK also ranks so highly in youth drunkenness, early sexual intercourse, cannabis-taking and teenage pregnancy.

The only thing they don’t rush in our school system is the time schedule. In England an average school day begins at 9.00am and finishes at 3.30pm. Compare this to Spain where the secondary school day is over at 2.20pm or in Germany where a school day lasts from 8am to 1pm. In Holland, school hours are more flexible, totaling to approximately 30 hours per week so that a 10-minute break can be given each hour. A child could attend two nine-hour days, two six-hour days and have three days off.

Is it a coincidence then that the three European nations that reached the World Cup semi-finals of the 2010 World Cup all share school hours that support children to become successful in their sport due to the more free time can be spent on enhancing their skill?

I am not suggesting that school hours should be changed purely for the benefit of sport but it is definitely a bonus. Also, if you consider that school in England starts at 9.00am and the optimum amount of sleep is seven hours then a child would be sleeping at 1.00am (estimating one hour to get ready) and seeing as the average bedtime for a 13 year old is 10.30pm, would be sleeping two and a half hours more than necessary.

Trevor Brooking bemoans that not enough of our young players play regular first team football for their clubs but he either failed to mention or failed to realize that this is the same case for every other top nation. To claim that 18-20 years old is the age that defines the career of a footballer is not necessarily true; the clubs that have been most successful in developing youngsters have realized that being patient with their kids is key, so all learn together before they are ready for the first team rather than jumping steps ahead.

FC Barcelona are perhaps the best example of this. Their academy ‘La Masia’ is renowned for producing some of the world’s best players but what is equally important to developing youngster’s ability is judging which age they should be promoted to the first team.

The club’s most successful ever captain Carles Puyol only made his debut when he was 21 years old and became a first team regular a year after. Andres Iniesta was slowly nurtured from the age of 19 as a substitute but only became a standard starter two years later while Sergio Busquets made his first appearance for the first team at 20.

On the other hand, Bojan Krkic and Giovani dos Santos were given a lot of first team football at the ages of 17 and 18 respectively by Frank Rijkaard in 2007 but early high expectations hampered their progression. Bojan has recently been sold to A.S Roma while Giovani has failed to find his feet since moving to Tottenham in 2008, subsequently being loaned to numerous clubs in that time.

At international level, Germany epitomizes the importance of youth learning collectively to develop a winning mentality and team spirit. Out of the U-21 European Championship winning squad of 2009, four of those players went on to start for the senior side a year later in South Africa.

Of course, here, managers are a lot more protective of their own club’s interests with U-21 manager Stuart Pearce constantly being pressured not to play club’s young ‘stars’ in two consecutive games and also not to take them to major tournaments.

Perhaps instead of clinching at the hope of throwing unready youngsters into the first team to aid the national team the higher powers of the FA should strive to ensure that their best players are available for their allocated international age groups. A kid playing above his level does not always mean he should be promoted to the senior side after a few good performances, bar of course only the exceptional talents that come along once every five years or so like Wayne Rooney or Jack Wilshere. The FA should be sterner with managers who oppose calling up their youngsters. The English U-17s are current European champions which shows the talent is there, the task now is to make sure that the majority represent their country in the U-19s and U-21s tournament.

But the FA will spend all day going on about how to improve the quality of English football with matters solely on the pitch when so much has to do with what they learn from things going on off the pitch. There are so many factors that play a role in creating what we all refer to as the ‘English way’ even though attempts to serve the overall good of the development of the game are often criticised.

There are the commentators who, having played in a day and age where the game was so different, believe that their way was the best way yet simply do not understand the modern game. They report as though determination is the most important aspect of football, praise anyone who goes hard into a challenge and runs hopelessly for miles each game yet will brand short intricate passing and a flick as over-elaborate and fancy. This transpires down to the youths that listen to this drivel and forms this ‘lad’ culture.

Therefore all these excuses created by the Football Association could all be helped by learning lessons from the general societal and cultural aspects that are going wrong in England at the moment and applying them to feasible ways to improve the general state of the game.

Have faith in youths; teach them principles that relate to both life and sport. Ensure they are being groomed into not only good players but people also. And above all, make sure that the timing of everything is right, as opposed to imposing a right time for them.

Andreas Vou is an English-Cypriot sports journalist based in Barcelona, involved with scouting and charity work. Follow him on Twitter @AndreasVou89

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Coaching, England, FC Barcelona, Germany, Study of English Football, Youth Academies, Youth Football