NORTHERN PLANNER

Like most people in England, I lived every minute of Saturday’s match against Paraguay. If England don’t win the tournament though (and they won’t) I’ll be supporting Brazil. No one should be surprised they’re favourites again with a population of 186 million football fanatics, but it seems the Italians have a lot to teach us about what we could do with our paltry 50 million in future.

Firstly though, here’s an odd thought. In his book The Science of Soccer, physicist John Wesson argues that in England, you’re birthday has a lot do with how good you’re going to be. The chance of being a premiership footballer is more than twice as high for boys born in Autumn as for those born in Summer. Why? Children born in the first half of the year are favoured above their less mature, weaker classmates when it comes to picking the school team. The effect of this early boost for some, and rejection for others seems to be  long term.

But it’s class that has the biggest effect. A Populus study a couple of years back showed that watching football is class neutral in England, but when it comes to playing football is a working class game.

If you get the chance, read Gianluca Vialli’s book The Italian Job. In comparing football culture in Italy and England he argues that in Italy, being a professional footballer is acceptable irrespective of your class background, while here it isn’t.

The result? Italian footballers have a more intellectual approach to the game which, in turn, produces better managers who value formal education and are more creative tactically.

So, in a nutshell, if England want to increase chances of winning the world cup, we should be less worried about Rooney’s foot and more interested in school.