There have been many father and son double acts who have played professional football for the same club. At Bristol Rovers Ray and Gary Mabbutt, John and Paul Petts, John and Ian Baker Muir and Ian and James Hamilton have all worn the famous blue and white quartered shirt over the years. In 2009 this family tradition lives on. But how is life different for today’s young Pirates whose dad’s also played for the Gas? We interviewed two young players at the Memorial Stadium to find out.
Joe White and Alex Kite are up and coming footballers trying to gain a first team place at Rovers. 19 years old Joe is determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father Steve White began his career with the Gas in the late 1970’s before joining Swindon Town where he played for eight years. He joined other clubs later on in his career, playing over 700 league games in total. Meanwhile 20 year old Alex Kite is a defender who’s dad Phil was a great goalkeeper who started and finished his long career at Rovers. ‘Dad’s career was cut short by a bad shoulder injury; it still becomes dislocated in the night sometimes’, Alex told us.
Alex’s dad, now the team physiotherapist at Rovers has always encouraged his son. ‘From the time when I was a young child Dad taught me that the most valuable thing was not to work on this skill or that, but simply to enjoy playing and have fun’. Alex added that if he achieved half of what his dad had done it would be an amazing thing.
Alex still has his dream of playing for Manchester United and bringing back the skills of his hero David Beckham.
Like Alex, the young striker Joe White was given similar advice by his Dad. ‘I was always told to enjoy the sport and that fun was the most important thing’. Joe spoke of how football now is different from playing in his father’s day. ‘The thing that has most changed is the diet. When Dad was at Luton they had steak and chips at the pub before a game which you would never do these days. Now we have salad and pasta which is much healthier and easy to digest.’
Many things in sport may change but let’s hope that family traditions within football clubs continue to reign and parents keep encouraging their sons and daughters to play for and support their team. What is the longest family line in football? Let’s try and google it!
By Jane, Ammar and Olivia.
