North East backbone to Neville’s squad may be under threat

Loss of professional side at Sunderland to reduce costs could spell end for traditional flow of talent

There is an old saying in the North East, that all you had to do to find a new England international footballer was to shout down

a mineshaft.

The coal mines closed decades ago and the heavy industries that once sustained the region have all but disappeared, but football remains a crucial part of its fabric and that is encapsulated by the make-up of Phil Neville’s World Cup squad in France.

For while the production line has slowed in the men’s game – according to recent research, there are fewer Premier League players from the North East than any other region in the country – the area provides the bulk of the England women’s side preparing for tomorrow night’s semi-final against the United States.

When Neville’s team outclassed Norway in their quarter-final, there were four players from the North East in the starting XI: captain Steph Houghton, star player Lucy Bronze, key midfielder Jill Scott and full-back Demi Stokes.

On the bench, there were another three: goalkeeper Carly Telford, winger Beth Mead and midfielder Lucy Staniforth.

Had Jordan Nobbs been fit, eight of the squad hoping to make the final for the first time would have been discovered and nurtured by Sunderland. The oldest (Scott) is 32, the youngest (Mead) is 24.

“It is impossible to say precisely why, but it probably has something to do with the fact that football is such an important part of the culture in the North East,” explained former Sunderland player and founder of the Shekicks website, Jen O’neill.

“It is woven into the fabric of everyday life. Football is everywhere, even if you do not go to matches, you will be aware of what is going on, whether that is Newcastle, Sunderland or Middlesbrough.

“There are sporty girls all over the country, but it is reasonable to assume that, if you are sporty in the North East, you are going to play football.

“I don’t know whether there is less of a stigma attached to girls playing because of it. From my personal experience, there was when I played, but these players are younger than me. How can you tell for sure?

“But you do wonder whether, because football is so popular, the barriers that prevented girls from playing football came down earlier in the North East than they have in other parts of the country.

“It is certainly a theory that carries some weight.”

There have also been important roles played by individuals such as

‘It is reasonable to assume that if you are sporty in the North East, you will be playing football’

O’neill, who helped nurture the likes of Houghton, Telford and Scott when they first arrived at Sunderland to play alongside her. One of the most important was former Sunderland Ladies manager Mick Mulhern.

“The infrastructure in the region has helped,” added O’neill. “There are colleges, like the Academy at East Durham and, more recently, Gateshead College, that provided football scholarships for girls.

“The problem with that was, they would come up to play for Sunderland when they were at college, but then they would leave because they got offers from American universities.

“Mick got fed up with that happening, so he looked for local talent, brought them into the coaching system early and they had a good club to play for, at a high level, in Sunderland. Most of them made their debuts when they were 14 or 15 and that was normal before the creation of the Women’s Super League. I can remember Carly Telford crying all the way home after her debut because we lost heavily.

“There is also something else that sticks in my mind. If you want to play football in the North East, you are isolated geographically. Look at Bronze, she lived in Alnwick in Northumberland and had a 90-mile round trip just to train with Sunderland.

“When you are playing games, the coach journeys are at least five hours, sometimes 10- or 12-hour round trips. You have really got to want it and that means only the most determined, most dedicated players come out of that environment.

“They have carried that with them into their professional careers, it has moulded them into the players they are because they are so driven.”

There are concerns moving forward. Sunderland no longer run a professional women’s team, a victim of the club’s need to cut their operating costs.

Although an application was made to continue in the top flight when the WSL was restructured last year, the new owners did not believe they could afford to fund the side after being relegated to League One and it was inevitably rejected by the Football Association.

Sunderland now have a parttime team in the third tier, with Durham Women in WSL2. Newcastle United play even further down the pyramid in the National League North Division One.

There are no professional women’s teams north of Manchester and no plans for that situation to change.

When the European Championship is held in England in 2021, there will be no games staged in that huge land mass above the de facto capital of northern England, but there will be two host venues – Rotherham United and Sheffield United – in South Yorkshire.

The FA claims no councils from the North East bid for games, but they should have been encouraged to do so. If it was explained properly, it is hard to believe there would not have been a bid from Sunderland or Middlesbrough, for example.

“It is a big concern,” added O’neill. “The North East has led the way in the development of the women’s game, and it is in danger of being cut out of its future because of what has happened to Sunderland.

“It is very sad. It is too early to say what impact it will have but if you like sport, if you don’t have a top-level football team to play for, maybe you will go into another one instead.

“Imagine if Bronze had gone into athletics, which she probably would have done without Sunderland.”