The Rise of Wayne Rooney and England's FIFA World Cup Hope.
Once in every generation a footballer arrives on the scene and with him like with a western wind, or a rising tide, there is a change. He inspires hope because he brings with him an as of yet unknown freshness. Wayne Rooney, born October 1985, is our changing of the guard.
He was not fed with a silver spoon as a child raised, like far too many Englishman, children of working class parents, Rooney grew up in council estates. The British low rent housing complexes many of which can now be found in complete urban decay. He was born in the North Western part of England, in Croxteth, Liverpool.
From an early start his talent on the field was undeniable. He was noticed and so at age 10 he was signed to Everton’s youth team.
As a teenager he scored 8 goals in the final 8 games of the league series which Everton lost. In 2002 at the age of 16 he was moved into the professional league. Still too young to earn the proper salary they paid him 80 pounds per week. This however would not last…
5 days before his 17th birthday, in his first premier league match against Arsenal, Rooney became the youngest goal scorer in Premier League history in a match against Arsenal scoring the game winning point. His ever increasing respect and popularity earned him a spot on England’s national team where, at the age of 17 he scored the decisive goal against Macedonia, bringing the crown a victory and ensuring himself a small place among the pantheon of greatness that is British football history. That goal made him the youngest to ever score in a national game.
Between the 2003/04 season and the next Rooney became a free agent. He had become too big a fish for the giant river that was Everton and he needed to go out into the oceans and see what he could make of himself. Few argued the boy was too big for his breeches. His record spoke for itself.
After a drawn out bidding war between Newcastle United and Manchester United Rooney, thanks to his thorough agent, signed an unprecedented deal. He was to be paid 25.6 million dollars. At the tender age of 18, the rough and tumble Rooney, son of a boxer, was now a multi-millionaire.
A fracture in his right foot (metatarsal) in the 2004 season cast a small shadow on the young Rooney’s promising future.
This was followed years later by another fracture in his left foot, and a 2007 ankle injury. Despite each one of these brief stints off the field and in recovery Rooney became in October 2008 the youngest player in league history to play 200 games.
Swifter than Michael Owen, more powerful than David Beckham, Rooney is a force of nature. His style of play is far more refined than his boorish appearance. Alex Ferguson claims he is the best young player England has seen in over 30 years. Wayne Rooney is now one of the highest paid player in football history. And with world cup season around the corner Rooney is carrying the hopes of all English football fans; not a small responsibility by any standards.
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