Many people are uninformed about where the very roots of football are found in England. The media has emphasised the contribution of the Professional football academies. These in turn have recognised the efforts of the junior clubs who normally play on Sundays. Unfortunately the efforts of schools are often ignored or dismissed. The truth, however, is that many children have their first experience of playing organised football at school.This is especially true in primary school. It is often through the efforts of those involved in primary schools football that both junior clubs and academies are able to recruit players to their teams.
From the South London team shown above there were six players who gained academy scholarships and one a YTS .Three of them have gone on to play for England at different levels. We as a primary section have a proud record of finding pupils who have gone on to play professionally. Here are some of our past players who have careers in football.
Julian Gray presently at Coventry City
Wayne Gray at Leyton Orient
Scott Parker at West Ham United - England International
Billy Mehmet at St Mirren – Northern Ireland U21 International
Rohan Ricketts at Barnsley
Ben Watson at Crystal Palace - England U21 International
Anton Ferdinand at West Ham - England U21 International
Cherno Samba at Plymouth - England U20 International
There are others who have either gained professional contracts or academy places. Many of these are today playing non league football.
Academy places;
Justine Bowen - West Ham (Rio Ferdinand’s youth team defensive partner)
Jermaine Brown, Rohan Ricketts, Carlin Itonga - Arsenal, members of an Arsenal F.A. Youth Cup winning squad)
Karl Beckford - Charlton
James Cheeseman - Swindon
Mark Corneille and Daniel Vella - Gillingham
Charles Funna - Charlton
Lovelace Asare - Aldershot
There are many others like John Butterfield and John Maloney who have played or are playing non league football
Two players who went on to play for Inner London at secondary level took another direction. Mark Awanah took to the athletics track and represented England in the long jump at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Leon Walters became the World Heavy Weight Karate Champion
Our most recent player to gain international honours is Danny Fitzsimmons (Millwall) who has been chosen in the Ireland U16 squad. We expect a good number of our most recent players who are now at academies to gain academy scholarships and eventually professional contracts. Many of these have been found through playing for their school in the Lambeth Primary Schools Football League.
In a season the primary representative team usually plays 8 to 10 games and takes part in a County 7 a side tournament. They also travel to France to play in an International 9 a side tournament. In recent years they have been very successful winning several times the Inner London Schools FA Finch and Kay Trophies and the international 7 a side tournament in France.
This seasons results 2007/8
Friendly- against Croydon L 1-2
London Schools u11 Cup against Lewisham 1-5 ( Mozier Brown)
Kay Trophy
Bermondsey and Rotherhithe W 2-1 (Issa Soulemane 2)
Islington D4-4 (Issa Soulemane 2, Reece Deakin,Nathaniel Oseni)
Camden W 5-0 (Reece Deakin 2, Brandon Bennett, Samuel Fajemilua, OG)
Finished top of the group on goal average and are into the semi final
Finch Trophy
Wandsworth W 6-1(Issa Soulemane 2, Jacob Calder 2, Caine Morris, Nathaniel Oseni.)
Inner London Schools 7 a sides
League matches: Hackney W 2-1, Wandsworth D 1-1, Camden D 0-0
Semi-final Lewisham L 0-2
The South London Schools FA (SLSFA) was founded in 1885 making it one of the oldest schools football associations in the world. LPSFL is pleased to be affiliated to such an historic football association. The SLSFA runs representative schools teams from under 11 which is the LPSFL age group up to under 19s. In recent seasons at under 11 SLSFA has had success winning the Finch (twice) and Kay Trophies and an international 7 a side competition in France (twice) with the bulk of the team provided by LPSFL schools.
The Magazine Cup was inaugurated in the 1930s by the SLSFA and was so named because the silver cup awarded to the winners was provided by a local sports magazine. The original trophy is still awarded to the winning school and is currently held by St Bernadette's of Clapham Park who beat Sudbourne of Brixton to retain the cup they won the previous season. The final was an exciting and well attended game at the end of last season which was played at a high level of skill and committment and in a sporting manner which was a credit to both schools and to South London Schools FA.
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