Gareth Bale. Frank Worrall
it was always football for me and I was left-footed from the start I think.’
‘He wasn’t the best at the traditional school subjects but he was absolutely outstanding at football, easily the best in the school and the best I’ve ever seen close up,’ said Carl Morgan, a fellow pupil. ‘He was lucky in that he had such a supportive family; his dad was always at the side of the pitch urging him on and taking him here and there for matches. They were a very close family and anything Gareth needed he got, even though they weren’t well off.’
By the age of 14 Gareth was also making trips to the Southampton academy itself, as well as their satellite centre in Bath. Dad Frank would accompany him around the country and Gareth would later admit the debt he owed to him, saying, ‘My dad’s the one who’s always been there; he’s my hero, you could say. Even when he was working, he’d do anything for me. He’s been the biggest influence in my life.’
Even at such a tender age the search for perfection was apparent as Gareth spent hours alone working on his skills and technique on the training pitch – long after the other boys had showered and left.
It was a trait that had been foreign to British footballers until six years earlier when Eric Cantona had arrived at Manchester United. Until 1996, the Brit pack would do their training and then head straight off home. But something stirred at Old Trafford when young men like Ryan Giggs and David Beckham saw the Frenchman Cantona still working alone as they jumped into their cars.
Beckham would later admit that it ‘opened my eyes’ and he also began to delay his exit from training, working with and learning from the French master. Cantona would help David with his technique and encourage him to perfect his free kicks – to great effect, as it would turn out.
So when Gareth worked on his skills as the new boy at Southampton’s academy in 2002, it was nothing new. But it was still not the norm – he usually ended up training alone after the other trainees had left. ‘The first time I saw Gareth play was when he was 13. He was playing as a left-winger then and had such a lovely left foot. Repetition is the best way to improve – the more repetition you have the better, and I often saw Gareth taking free-kick after free-kick in his own time,’ Frenchman Georges Prost, the former technical director of Southampton’s academy, would later confirm. ‘All that practice gave him accuracy and made him believe, and now he takes them with so much confidence. He hits them with pace and a lovely technique.’
When Gareth stayed in Southampton to learn at the club’s academy he roomed with another youngster who would go on to make a big name for himself – Theo Walcott. The two had planned to buy a flat together until Walcott left the club for Arsenal in January 2006. Gareth’s mum Debbie told the Sun: ‘They were planning to buy a TV and get a flat together until Theo moved to Arsenal. Theo used to pinch Gareth’s aftershave before he met his girlfriend, Mel Slade.’
It was Walcott whom many of the staff initially believed would be the bigger star of the two. He also had great pace, control and technique – and he seemed to be the fitter of the two. Even as a youngster Gareth was bedevilled by injury and fitness problems – and the Saints academy staff also worried about his height. ‘He was a lot smaller back then,’ recalled one source close to the club. ‘And he seemed surprisingly shy. The staff had their work cut out bringing him out of his shell and beefing him up. But it worked out eventually – he became bigger and taller – and it became clear that he had everything needed to become a big star.’
But the doubts had been very real. Indeed, it later emerged that Southampton were so unsure whether Gareth would make the grade as a professional footballer that they even contemplated releasing him at the age of 15. ‘Between the ages of 14 and 16 he had growth spurts which affected his mobility and strength,’ Ron Ruddick would add. ‘He had a horrendous three years because he had a couple of injuries as well. But because of his character he kept going. There was some doubt whether he would get a scholarship but I never had any doubts about him. You could see from an early age he had something special.’
Gareth himself accepted he had a problem, admitting, ‘At 14 growing pains almost forced me out of the game. I was quite small then shot up. My back was out of alignment. I couldn’t run properly.’
Gareth left Whitchurch High school in the summer of 2005 with a Grade A in PE among his GCSE results. In his final year at school, he was awarded the PE department’s prize for services to sport. In the presentation, PE teacher Gwyn Morris said, ‘Gareth has a fierce determination to succeed and has the character and qualities to achieve his personal goals. He is one of the most unselfish individuals that I have had the pleasure to help educate.’ It was a wonderful tribute from an early mentor to the boy who, although not the brightest academic star in the school, had certainly helped put Whitchurch High on the map in the world of professional sport. Gareth was the jewel in Whitchurch’s crown; its greatest ever pupil in terms of sporting achievement and certainly its most famous ever. Before leaving, Gareth even helped Whitchurch win a trophy that earned them major bragging rights in Cardiff – the Cardiff and Vale Senior Cup.
His perseverance and dogged determination to make the grade at Southampton FC would also soon pay dividends. Within his close circles, it is often contended that the key match in his life was not the one that propelled him on to the world stage against Inter Milan in 2010, but one back in January 2005 – when he starred for Southampton Under-18s against Norwich Under-18s. After a series of injury setbacks it was made clear to him and his family that he now had to deliver the goods – or suffer the consequences. Which, in stark terms, would have meant he would not have been offered an academy scholarship with the Saints – and could have ended up on the footballing scrapheap.
Given his fame and acclaim now, it is almost unbelievable that he flew so close to disaster; that his career could have ended before it started. Luckily, he had a brilliant match, flying down the left flank and destroying poor Norwich with the help of his mate Walcott, who grabbed a first half hat-trick in the 5-1 romp.
Gareth, then 15, was now on his way and it was no surprise when 15 months later – on April 17, 2006 – he became the second youngest player at 16 years and 275 days ever to play for Southampton (the youngest being Walcott) when he made his debut and played the whole match as Saints beat Millwall 2-0.
Gareth made a confident debut in a match that then boss George Burley had earmarked as a good opportunity to blood some of his youngsters as the game meant little to Saints. It was no easy run-out for Gareth, though – Millwall were fighting a desperate battle against relegation but goals from Kenwyne Jones and Ricardo Fuller helped send them down from the Championship to League One.
Afterwards Burley would throw an arm around Gareth and tell him he had done well on his debut. Burley said, ‘We have played with quality in the last few games and this was an opportunity to blood young players.’
He later added: ‘I was particularly pleased with young Gareth on his debut; he was solid and composed. He has a big future in football, no doubt at all about that.’
The 2005/06 season was almost over but Gareth managed to make one more appearance before the curtain fell – a fortnight later in the home win over Leicester, by the same 2-0 scoreline.
The next season – 2006/07 – would see him much more involved in the thick of the action as he made 43 appearances and scored five goals for Saints. His impact was immediate as he netted in the opening match of the campaign, the 2-2 draw at Derby.
It arrived just after the hour mark from what would eventually become known in the trade as ‘one of Bale’s trademark free kicks’, bringing Saints back into the match after they had trailed to a first-half goal from Seth Johnson.
Southampton’s official website, www.saintsfc.co.uk, certainly sat up and took notice of the goal. It had already commended Gareth’s efforts early on in the match for ‘pushing on powerfully down the left’ and now rhapsodised about his first professional goal in this way, ‘Saints deservedly levelled with a first league goal for Gareth Bale, just three weeks after his 17th birthday. And what a peach it was! In only his third league start he had the self confidence and stature to demand the free kick when it was awarded 25 yards out.