John Barnes talks football

By Bethany McAtee

It was a Sunday morning in 1976, and 13-year-old John Barnes was flying into London Heathrow from Jamaica. As he stared out of the plane window, excitement buzzed inside of him. Below him were young girls and boys playing football at what was then Chelsea’s training ground. John had been playing football since he was 4 years old, so when his father announced that the family would be moving to England – the home of football – for a diplomatic post, he was elated. Whilst Jamaica didn’t have a professional football team, John’s father had played and managed amateur football for Jamaica’s national team alongside working in the army. A military attaché, he was forever drilling into the Barnes’s household attitudes such as discipline and teamwork.

Unfortunately, the school John attended in North London was a rugby school, so they didn’t carry that same enthusiasm for football as he did. Fortunately, like today, football was everywhere and it wasn’t long before John had joined a boys football club in Paddington. At this point, he didn’t dream of becoming a professional football player because he knew that his father’s post in England would only be for four years. Then, John got spotted. A coach from Sudbury Court men’s team was interested in recruiting boys from Paddington’s youth team. Yet John was the only boy chosen.

‘The reason why a lot of those boy’s didn’t get the opportunity is because of course, Sudbury Court trains on a Sunday’, John remembers. ‘Sunday is the day after Saturday night, which means if you want to be up until 4am, you’re not going to want to wake up and play. I wanted to go out drinking with my friends too, but because I was from a strict household I wasn’t able to drink or go out. Looking back I realise that discipline is why I became the player I was and why the other boys didn’t make it.’

Playing now for Sudbury Court, John gets spotted again. A taxi driver who knew a scout from Watford football club happened to be driving past a game at Sudbury court one day.  After observing John, he immediately contacted the Watford scout and told him to come down to Sudbury Court the next week. John wasn’t aware of this, so he was taken by surprise when the Watford scout approached him and asked if he wanted to train with Watford. Still anticipating moving back to Jamaica, he began training at Watford, only to be offered a contract. As much as people believe it was luck that that particular taxi driver was driving past Sudbury court when John was playing, John attributes his fate to hard work.

‘You reap the rewards of hard work when you least expect it, because you never know when an opportunity is going to present itself. That taxi driver could have been watching and I could’ve been the best player in the world, but had a bad game and he would’ve just driven by. You can work towards whatever you want to achieve,’ John says.

Watford was not a Premier League team when John joined, however they went from the fourth division to the top division in five years without signing any ‘superstars’. To John, this is because Watford encompassed virtues that are the essence of football: belief and determination. Yes a player can have talent, but it’s more to do with the humility they hold and the togetherness they have with their teammates. Although John played for England at 19 years old and other players from Watford didn’t, he didn’t feel superior to them. He respected them because, ‘no matter how good you are, you have to be part if the team’. In fact, he goes so far as to say teamwork is the most important aspect of sport in order to become successful, even in individual sports such as tennis. Although individual sportspeople have their team of coaches, physiotherapists and other staff, their different techniques within the game must work as a team too. In tennis, the player’s backhand, forehand, footwork and volleying must work well together for their match to be successful.

John suggests that nowadays, it is harder for young football players to reach their potential. Players usually come off the pitch and are told they are great, so they don’t believe they need to improve. Giving ‘superstar’ Theo Walcott as an example, John explains how because at 17 years old Theo was constantly being praised at how fantastic he was; it was harder for him to reach his potential. He points out that although Theo has talent and a fantastic career, at aged 29 he’s not much better than he was 12 years ago.

‘I see life – and football – as a competition within yourself to maximise the potential that you hold. If you maximise the potential you have and finish second to last, you’re a winner, because you can’t do any better. It is impossible in life to overachieve.’

There are many, many great football players. What sets players apart are not just their talent and ability, but their dedication, determination and desire to play football. Unfortunately what happens now is players have the determination to play football and have the potential to play at an academy, yet when they get rejected once, they give up on football. Perhaps they didn’t want to play football and instead wanted celebrity status, or they just didn’t want to play.

‘When I go to schools and I speak with children, I ask who wants to be a footballer. All their hands go up in the air. I then ask them to keep their hands up in the air if they want to play for clubs like Rochdale or Oldham earning £500 a week until they’re 35. All of their hands will come down but if there is one hand that stays in the air, I will say to them that they have a chance of becoming a football player. Once they put their hands down, they don’t want to become a football player, they want to be a superstar.’