Does demographics play a part...

[Rafa Shankly]

theres a difference in working class and poverty,i think your point only applies to players who came from a poverty stricken up bringing.
id argue that robbie,gerrard and carra went on to become the players they were because of their back round.
because altho they probably were working class,football wasnt all they had,theres a lot more than kicking a ball around to do for working class folk.
you could argue tho that kids that learnt their trade by kicking oranges around because they were to poor to afford a football became the players they were because of that.
but when was the last time a kid went on to become a footballer after starting life off like that,pele?

[Rafa Shankly]

Marky that's a very good point one which Eamon Dunphy raised during the World Cup last year while being a pundit on RTE.
He stated that he felt that players had to much that kids had to much these days and that the poorer countries would rise in footballing terms.
I have to say it has been proven over the years that this is the case the best have come from serioulsy impoverished backgrounds.
Unfortunately whats happening now is that when they do make it some forget where they came from and lose that edge to their game.

but everything eamon says is complete nonsense so thats that theory out of the window.

[glynner]

I'm not a fan of Dunphy's but everything he says is not pure nonsense.

He does raise a serious point every now and then. I just think that sometimes he tries to be sensationalist, but that might have something to do with the booze.

As for the original question, I'd go along with it: there's defintely more hunger in someone who grew up on the streets.

[JohnnyLambert]

Poverty and dictatorship in a country make great football teams i.e Brazil

Italy in the 1930's won World Cups with Mussolini dictating and the old Soviet Union with Lev Yashin had a hell of a team!!

Impoverished nations like Argentina and Brazil have succeeded!!

All in all because of the money, htpe and television Football has now also become a rich man's game whereabouts stockbrokers, lawyers and directors now go to the footy on Saturday and their kids play it. This is not a bad thing but it has in many ways lost that cutting edge working class grit!!

I agree witht the point that some footballers do forget where they came from after making their millions and you will still continue to see the best talent coming from the so called 'rougher' areas areas, which is great! Look at how many youngsters Middlesbrough are bringing through now and that is a very much deprived area, its great that Football can provide that oppotunism!!