Alfie Cain
(Picture: Supplied)A former Chelsea FC youth team player has opened up about the “feelings of failure” that inspired his one-man play about the difficulties faced by young people who go through footballing academies but are then cut loose.
Alfie Cain, 25, spent three years with Chelsea before moving down the leagues in club youth systems and eventually out of the game.
His play, Dropped, follows the career of a young player at a big club and his struggles to make it.
He said: “I was at Chelsea from the age of nine to 12 and then at Barnet until 18. For the whole of my life that I could remember I’d been an academy player. Nine years of training and matches and then, on one day in April 2015, I was told it was all over.”
Cain, who said he “fell apart” after being released, then went to drama school but said: “It’s taken me quite a few years to be able to address the feelings of failure that followed being dropped aged 18.”
His year group at Chelsea included Ola Aina, from south London, who now plays for Torino in Italy’s Serie A. But Cain says most of his contemporaries did not make it in the sport.
He said too many trainees were left with “little or no education” and “no prospects” and has set up a website where young players can get advice on what to do when they are cut loose from academies. Referring to Jeremy Wisten, a footballer released by Manchester City’s academy who took his own life in October 2020, weeks after his 18th birthday, he said: “I know a lot of academy players that have been close to that level of despair, and I’ve been there too.
“But I don’t think the academies have learned any lessons from Jeremy Wisten, it doesn’t appear that they have implemented any major changes.
“There is very little done to educate the players of their actual chances of making it as a pro, and practically no counselling or support when you are dropped or injured.” Recent figures show there are about 36,000 boys in club academies but only one per cent will ever sign a professional contract.
He said many clubs keep on players just to be training partners for the “most gifted” boys and never have any intention of signing them up.
But Cain said given his time again he would still “take my chance” and sign up to the academy system.
He added: “I wish there had been more education to make it clear what the chances were and also to push boys towards a plan B so they are not just left with nothing at 18.”
- Dropped is at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice from April 13 to 16
