West Ham striker Michail Antonio was back playing Europa League football this week, but European knockout games in front of huge crowds are a far cry from where the Hammers’ number nine started out.
While several of Antonio’s club team-mates started out in top academies, some in the UK and others further afield, he had a different route into the game. At 18, he was on the books of Tooting & Mitcham in the Isthmian League, but he’s one of a growing number of players to step up from non-league football to the top tier.
Antonio’s club team-mate Jarrod Bowen made his professional debut with Hereford United in the National League, while others - including Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock and Wolves captain Max Kilman - started out even further down the pyramid. All are now established top-flight players and, in Antonio’s case, West Ham ’s all-time record scorer in the Premier League.
Those who came through elite academies will have stories about the coaches or staff members who helped them at the start, but it’s worth recognising a lot of those people are fully paid-up staff members. The lower down you go, the more you see volunteers putting in the work just to ensure matches go ahead every week, and Antonio - speaking exclusively to Mirror Football at the launch of a campaign with The FA and England Football celebrating grassroots football volunteers - explains he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
“Obviously in professional football, there's so much money being backed in by owners, by the fans, by people supporting, by sponsors, whereas in non-league you don't really get that opportunity,” Antonio says. “People volunteering keeps grassroots football alive, so I think it's massively key to do that. Because without grassroots football, there is no football.
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“My old manager at Tooting and Mitcham, Mark Elvin, I stay in contact with him... I also stay in contact with Errol Bignall, he used to work at Chelsea Kicks, a community football thing with Chelsea.
“Those are the main people that I'm in contact with, but they were big parts of my life and it's something I always keep close to my heart, so I suppose it's nice that I stay in touch with them,” he adds. Antonio still tries to get back to Tooting & Mitcham games when possible, even if West Ham’s success - a success he has played a big part in - has brought European nights which make those midweek trips to South London harder to fit in with the same regularity.
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West Ham star Michail Antonio started his career in non-league (PA)As part of the grassroots programme, Antonio has met with several volunteers from across the UK. Among them is Surekha Griffiths, a volunteer referee with Middlesex FA, who got into her role in a way which will feel familiar to plenty of parents of football-mad children… but one which is also a little different thanks to her South Asian background.
This month saw Sunny Singh Gill become the first British Asian referee to take charge of a match in the Premier League, and Griffiths has seen representation grow at lower levels as well. She has seen the ways grassroots football helps bring people together - people who, as she tells Mirror Football , might not have otherwise moved in the same circles.
Her journey into refereeing began when her sons’ league was in search of volunteers - she explains the boys didn’t think twice about it being their mother rather than their father who would take on the mantle. Now, besides taking charge of games, she continues fostering spirit between Hindu and Jewish communities in her area who might not otherwise cross paths as regularly.
Michail Antonio with grassroots football volunteers (England Football)“I've been lucky enough to meet some of these match officials who are now moving up into the Premier League, and listen to their stories and experiences which are actually very similar to the ones I'm experiencing. Especially having grown up in similar households like I grew up in,” Griffiths says.
“I grew up in a South Asian household, very strict, full of love, but absolutely not sport-loving. And one of the main reasons is that we had four channels in those days, in the 80s, and one television, and they didn't want to be watching something which they linked to racism.
“We were brought up to always be kind to people, be polite, stay under the radar, but just expect that sometimes you are going to be in a situation where people are going to look at you and judge you based on your colour. And that was something we became used to and learned to manage and learned to handle, so sport wasn't something I was encouraged to watch. I wasn't discouraged, but there was no encouragement and I had no company for it.
“When my sons said to me 'Mum you should go and try to be a referee', and my husband was the same, my initial reaction was my own self-bias, which was basically so much that I'd only ever seen male referees, so for me to then sort of try to be something I hadn't witnessed before, it was almost like I was inflicting my own bias on myself. But my children haven't grown up with that, because they've grown up in my household and our household which is very open, and to them they didn't even understand why it was a big deal that it would be their mum.”
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Antonio met with volunteers across a range of roles within football (England Football)One common thread across grassroots football is the presence of something nearby and accessible. Antonio himself was able to take advantage of local schemes when growing up in South London, name-checking Chelsea Kicks, and 23-year-old coach Tyra Mills - now a para coach and mentor with the Watford Foundation and Fulham Foundation - had a similar experience when getting started.
“I started going to a programme called Premier League Kicks, with the Chelsea foundation, and they had sessions going on - I think every Friday - at Westway Sports Centre,” Mills, who’s now a level 3 qualified coach, tells Mirror Football . She was the only female player at first, and - after following the programme to a new location closer to Stamford Bridge - was encouraged to volunteer and provided with the materials she needed to get her coaching badges.
“Definitely,” she says when asked if the proximity to where she grew up made it easier to get involved. “ Westway is about two stops on the train, or one bus as well, so it was easy to get to.”
Ethan Pinnock is among those to follow Antonio in climbing fron non-league to the Premier League (PA)Mills has worked in academy football and in grassroots, while she’s also still a keen player. And she hasn’t forgotten those who helped her at the start.
“I still speak to my coach mentors and the peers that are on my projects as well,” she adds. “A few went to coach at the academies, but I prefer grassroots because I think that's what needs help the most. It's opened my eyes a bit more to the support that players need and how I can support talent.”
She recognises there are still some disparities in coaches’ attitudes in the women’s game, with a lot of young grassroots players needing to do their own self-promotion to convince teams of their worth. However, after taking a role as a scout for England, she has been able to bang the drum for grassroots talent a little bit more.
“If I see someone who has potential I'm always going to ask the questions of the coach and try and find out a bit more about the player and see where we can take them or where the other team can take them if they've got the resources as well,” she says. “There's a few girls I've spotted that will potentially be in the England setup soon and they're all from grassroots clubs as well, which is amazing.”
Antonio has shared his experience of meeting with volunteers (England Football)After meeting a selection of volunteers - spanning generations and roles - Antonio has no doubts about the importance of grassroots football even now. And not just in the more prominent coaching and refereeing roles.
“One thing with football is there's so many different avenues you can do other than being a footballer,” he says. “You can go into media, you can be an announcer, you can be a coach, you can be a kit man.
“There are so many other things you can do around football. But I feel like helping out in the community is something special, and it's always good to help out where you are in life.
“To be honest, the best thing for you to do is go into a club and volunteer. No one really turns down free work. And from there you can learn what you want to do and how you want to get into it, and then from there you can take the right steps.”
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