Since the start of 2020, I have been researching career pathways of current under-23 players across Europe’s top five leagues. As a result, I have so far distinguished five different routes into professional football. This post is dedicated to the fourth of them, which I called the amateur route. It is about players who started their senior careers in non-league, amateur or semi-professional football.
This may have seemed a thing of the past.
When one Antonio – Michail – went down under a challenge from another – Rüdiger – in the Chelsea penalty area, something uncommon in modern football was about to happen.
The referee did not blow his whistle. Instead, the West Ham United forward picked himself up and, seconds later, converted home a low cross across the face of goal from Jarrod Bowen to give his side a precious lead in a crucial derby game.
What was so special about that move, which happened just a few weeks ago – apart from the seemingly rare occurrence when a player brought down quickly got himself up rather than started complaining to the referee?
It was that both key touches, Bowen’s cross and Antonio’s finish, were provided by players who began their seniors careers below the four professional tiers of English football.
THEN AND NOW
As for Michail Antonio, now 30 and brought up in a different era to his 23-year-old teammate, his pathway does not seem very uncommon.
Born in Greater London, Antonio joined local side Tooting & Mitcham United Juniors at the age of 12 before making his senior debut for the club five years later, playing in the Isthmian League – featuring amateur and semi-professional clubs from London and areas nearby – and only then signing for Reading in October 2008.
In fact, there have been a number of Premier League players currently around the age of 30 who started out in non-league football, with Jamie Vardy, but also Chris Smalling (now on loan at Roma) providing the most obvious examples.
These days, however, this indeed seems a thing of the past.
Professional club academies tend to sign players up as early as possible – hence the English route – or scout them as teenagers – hence the French route – and even from abroad – hence the international route.
Yet, there are still players who somehow escape through the system or simply develop at a later stage – hence the amateur route.
Jarrod Bowen reportedly had unsuccessful trials at both Aston Villa and Cardiff City before joining the youth system of Hereford United. There, in the Football Conference, he made his senior debut back in 2014 and soon moved to Hull City.
If you like such stories, cherish them. They may not be happening in the future.
In the picture: Jarrod Bowen began his senior career in fifth tier of English football (source: West Ham United FC)
BREAKTHROUGH 