What constitues a football hotbed? Newcastle fans look away now…
The North East of England is often described as a ‘football hotbed’ – an area that is widely accepted to be rich in the culture, tradition and passion of the beautiful game. Three big clubs, hundreds of thousands of loyal supporters and a breeding ground for talent through the eras, there can’t be many parts of the world that top Tyneside, Wearside and the Tees on the hotbed thermometer ?
Well of course there are. Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer and Paul Gascoigne apart, how many world class players has the ‘hotbed’ produced ? And how many trophies have their teams won on a national or international stage ?
I know it’s not all about glory and home grown talent, but I can make a case for ten diverse areas on this planet all being bigger hotbeds than the North East (population: 2,515,442):
1. Buenos Aires (pop: 13, 044,800) Clubs 24, Continental titles 10, Top 3 players – Maradona, di Stefano, Zanetti.
Buenes Aires boasts the highest concentration of professional football teams of any city in the world - 24 -which include winners of the Libertadores Cup winners on no fewer than 10 occasions. Boca Juniors (6), River Plate (2), Argentinos Juniors (1) and Velez Sarsfield (1) have brought unparalleled glory to the city which lives and breathes the game. Producing arguably the world’s most gifted footballer ever gives Buenos Aires a special place in the pantheon of the sport.
2. Milan (pop: 3,893,959) Clubs 2, Continental titles 9, Top 3 Players – Maldini, Meazza, Bergomi.
AC Milan and Internazionale produce the foremost European city derby in terms of tradition and quality. It’s not a city that exports many players - because they all want to stay and play for one of the giants.
3. Sao Paulo (pop: 22, 677,506) Clubs 6, Continental titles 4, Top 3 home grown talents – Kaka, Cafu, Rivelino.
Three huge clubs - Sao Paulo FC, Corinthians, Palmeiras and three smaller clubs in the city and probably the biggest exporter of football talent throughout Brazil, South America and the rest of the world. Whatever team you support - you’ve probably had a Sao Paulo-born player on the books at some stage!
4. Merseyside (pop: 1,365,900) Clubs 3, Continental Titles 5, Top 3 Players – Gerrard, Rooney, McManaman.
Two huge clubs that are among the oldest and most passionately followed in the game, plus a breeding ground for talent that has been exported elsewhere or stayed at home.
5. Amsterdam (1, 468,122) Clubs 1, Continental Titles 4, Top 3 Players – Cruyff, Gullit, Rijkaard.
Small city - big football tradition. Total Football and some of the world’s greats grew up here - with a helping hand from Surinam: Seedorf, Davids, Winter…
6. Glasgow (1, 750,000) Clubs 3, Continental Titles 1, Top 3 players – Dalglish, Ferguson, Auld.
Celtic, Rangers, Dalglish, Lisbon Lions, Barcelona Bears, Sir Alex Ferguson.
7. East London (1,500,000) Clubs 2, Continental titles 0, Top 3 Players – Moore, Beckham, Brooking.
West Ham catchment area has harvested the likes of Ferdinand x 2, Lampard, Defoe, Carrick, Cole, Johnson, four of which will play in the Champions League final. Before that and it was Moore, Hurst, Brooking. No trophies but clubs with traditional and passionate followings.
8. Cairo (7, 734, 334) Clubs 2, Continental titles 10, Top 3 Players –Mido, Hossam Hassan, Ramzy.
9. Marseille (1,605,000) Clubs 1, Continental titles 1 Top 3 Players - Zidane, Cantona, Flamini.
10. Johannesburg (3,888,180) Clubs 3, Continental titles 1, Top 3 Players Radebe, Khumalo, Zuma.
Written by Simon Barlow, a professional sports writer who blogs about Euro 2008 betting at Betfair.
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Discussion - 13 Responses
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Interesting take on what constitutes a hotbed of football but Carrick is from the North East!! That is quite a big catchment area for east london.
Alex Ferguson great manager. But as a player average. Jinky is surely in the top 3.
No surprise with Newcastle really, it’s well known they are full of **** and know nothing of football outside there own little inbred world.
The main focus from that area is staying jobless, over hyping Newcastle United and slagging off any other club or player.
Believe it or not I don’t hate that club in the slightest, but the fan sites have time and time again this season shown my points clear as day, micky mouse big time wannabes of the year award undoubtedly goes to the job seekers alliance - Newcastle United fans.
If you’re going to pick Johannesburg, you might as well have picked Manchester…surely they’ve produced *some* players over the years?
The North East has produced plenty of top players in recent years. Brian Robson, Pallister, Waddle, Gazza, Shearer, Carrick. For some reason they all choose to move to big clubs.
Zuma is not a top player… just for your information…
and iv properly seen him play more then you, so i have a right to my oppinion…
yes he has decent skill and ability, and has scored one of the most beutifull scissor kicks for FC Copenhagen…
but your naming him in the same line as fucking world stars
come on… it drags your credability down… i was enjoying this article untill you fucked it up, since you coudnt find 3 top players from johannesburg.
Buenos Aires (pop: 13, 044,800)
Sao Paulo (pop: 22, 677,506)
So why say East London and not London as a whole, can’t be because London is bigger in area or population. And East London is surely no more of a hotbed than North or West and the Ferdinands are from South London.
Hi Lee, yes I know Carrick is from the NE. More trophies than Shearer already, I should have put him in their top 3.
Hi Colin, not referring to Alex Ferguson in the top 3 Glasgow players. Jinky wasn’t born in Glasgow - when did he move there ?
Haha fair comments on Johannesburg fellas. Couldn’t find any world class players from there but that’s not the sole factor in deciding a football hotbed is it.
Hi Paul, I chose East London because it’s my article and I’ll write what I like! ta for replies
being a hot bed of football doesn’t just mean the stars that the area has produced, you quite rightly point out that nothing has been won in the north east for however long but yet the passion for football is one reason it is a hot bed for football newcastle attract 52k every week sunderland top 45k+ each week forget about boro but they still manage 25k. I would like to see what the top clubs could attract after so many years of mediocrity?
This is a rubbish discussion. sunderland and newcastle have both got poulations of 300,000 approx. Include the 3 premiership cities and thats 1million.
Sunderland pop 300,000. 45,000 a week going to see them (more than liverpool) 15% of the people watch the football live. Construct your own argument from that you parraquat
Ahmed, completely agree with you!
Betty, the fans up there only follow when it suits them, it always irritates me to hear that area called a hotbed. Sunderland always mysteriously lose 24,000 fans from that stadium when they’re in the middle reaches of division one. The amount of empty seats whenever I see Middlesbrough play makes me even more certain of it. The 3 clubs combined were getting no more than around 35,000 fans a week in the late 80s and 90s til Keegan went to Newcastle and made football fashionable up there again.
Leeds, Forest and Sheffield fans to me have more loyalty than the above.
Are there really only two players to come from Marseille? I mean really, Flamini? He has only had one good season. Is he really in the same class as Zizou and Cantona?
Ok, so I am bitter he is leaving for Milan. We will see his true quality next year when he isn’t playing for a new contract.
But he still will never be of the class of the other two mentioned.
Cairo? Joburg? Are you fucking serious? I know many football hotbeds than those. Turin, Madrid, Munich, Bucharest… You call Mido and Ramzy talents? And who are Khumala and Radebe? What about Del Piero, Lahm, Raul, and Chivu? Whoever wrote this article is either a complete retard, or he was on drugs when he wrote this. What bullshit.