Background Factors in trying to identity ‘ Potentially Talented ‘ Players- lessons from studying the current England World Cup Rugby Squad ?

Background Factors in trying to identity ‘ Potentially Talented ‘ Players- what can we learn by studying the background of the current England World Cup Rugby Squad ?

In the LMA School of Football Management online course ‘ Identifying Potential Talent ‘ we devote two the 15 modules looking at ‘ Background Factors’ in Talent ID and it is therefore worthwhile considering what Football can learn from Rugby ( We have a Flash Halloween Sale here !) 

Getting to the Final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday November 2nd is a BIG event in England this week. It was a huge victory for the team last Saturday to beat the mighty All Blacks. So we decided to look at the background factors of this squad as we had done previously with the England Mens Football World Cup squad in 2018  ( & here ) and England Women’s World Cup squad this year ( and here ) 

Data was taken from Wikipedia for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2003 Rugby World Cup Winning squad 

When were they born ?

All the squads had a bias towards ‘ Birthdays’ i.e. in England players born in Quarter 1 - September, October and November but the current Rugby squad as twice as many players born in Q1 than Q2. Is this a one- off or a symptom of talent identification in all sports especially those with high physical demand ?

Where are they born ?

Rugby in England (and France) has a more rural heritage.Rugby Union would presumably would wish to have more players in the current pool from the North - North West, North East and Yorkshire while Football would presumably wish to have more of a presence from the South West. 

The Population of South West England is over 5.6 million people .It’s about the same as Yorkshire and Humberside and twice as populous as the North East of England . There are more registered boys and especially more girls playing football in clubs in the South West than Rugby but fewer International Football players. 

Keith Curle ( born in Bristol ) had 3 International Football Caps in 1992 bit if one discounts Eric Dier ( born in Cheltenham ) as he moved to Portugal when he was 5 years of age then the last other outfield players capped by England at football from the whole of the South West of England (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset ) were back in the 70’ and 80’s with Gary Mabbut, Larry Lloyd and Trevor Francis. This contrasts with almost a quarter of the current Rugby squad from the South West - with 3 selected for the squad from Devon and Cornwall alone !! England football has had International Goalkeepers from the South West - Jack Butland and Nigel Martyn but very few outfield International Players. 

Therefore : 2/3rds of the current Rugby squad born in the South West, South East and overseas v 2/3rds of the 2018 England Football squad born in the North West, North East and Yorkshire 

Implications ? For Football clubs it maybe would be worth looking beyond the urban areas and seeing what potential sporting and athletic talent is lurking down in the West Country of England ! 

One might also like to ask the question - why no male Rugby Internationals or male or female football internationals born in the West Midlands ? 

Raheem Sterling was born in Jamaica and moved with his family to London as a boy. The immigration of Rugby players from South Africa, The Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Australia would seem to be at older years. Nevertheless if one is identifying potential talent for International teams considering immigrants and the sons and daughters of immigrants would appear to be critical 

Where did they go to school ?

The England 2019 Squad has 55% of its players who have attended private schools and 45% attended only state schools including selective Grammar Schools contrasting with the opposite ratios for the 2003 Squad - 55% attending only State Schools 

As far as we can ascertain none of the 2018 or 2019 male or female football squad members from 2018 or 2019 attended private schools. 

With only about 7% of children in England attending private schools the Rugby squads would seem to have a limited pool from which to choose from. Nevertheless this is a rich talent pool for sport as a third of the 2012 Great Britain Olympic Team of all athletes were educated at private schools  and a third of British Medalists at the 2016 Olympics were from private schools 

Interesting the only two Rugby players in the current squad born in the North West - Ford and Farrell - moved south to attend the same independent Boarding School in the South East - St. Georges in Harpenden 

The number of graduates of Private schools playing football is however increasing ( see here ) with recent England Internationals Callum Hudson-Odoi, Fraser Foster and Alex Oxlade Chameberlain all attending private schools. So the opportunities in private education shouldn’t be lost to football ! 

Family Factors ?

There is recorded evidence in the high probability of International Footballers having elder brothers (from Laura Finnegan here and USA study here ) There is a anecdotal evidence of sibling influence but it’s not possible to obtain data to verify the incidence of having older brothers in the Rugby squad

There are a number of players who’s fathers were also International Rugby players. There were no players in the England 2018 World Cup squad who’s fathers had been International Footballers but in the current England Rugby squad there are FIVE who’s fathers were International Rugby Players ( Youngs,Mako Vunipola,Billy Vunipola,Andy Farrell, and George Ford ) 

Other Sports ?

Anecdotally there is multiple evidence of all players from Rugby and Football playing a wide range of sports with Ford and Farrell moving to Rugby Union from Rugby League. England captain Owen Farrell first started playing Rugby Union at 13/14 years of age and Ford at 11 years of age 

You can learn about how background factors affect ‘ Talent Identification ‘ in the LMA School of Football Management online course ‘ Identifying Potential Talent ‘  where we devote two the 15 modules looking at ‘ Background Factors’ in Talent ID 

NB WE HAVE A HALLOWEEN FALSH SALE FOR THE ONLINE ‘ IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL TALENT COURSE ‘ FOR DETAILS SEE HERE