Kalvin Phillips: The secret hero of the English national team

Kalvin Phillips: The secret hero of the English national team

For the first time since the 1966 World Cup, England’s national team can dream of a title again. Kalvin Phillips has only played in the Premier League for one season – and has fought his way to becoming a football star despite the most adverse circumstances.

In the semifinals of the EM 2021, team captain Harry Kane shot the English team into the final thanks to a penalty. For the first time since the 1966 World Cup, England can look forward to a title again. Kane is celebrated like a hero in his own country.

But there is still a secret superstar in the English national team, a “Working Class Hero”, as they call rising stars from the working class there: Kalvin Phillips. The 25-year-old defensive midfielder repeatedly talks about his difficult childhood, with free meals, a starving mother and a father who repeatedly ends up in prison.

His mother skipped dinner

Phillips is the son of a Jamaican father and an Irish mother. His father had his first child at the age of 13, a daughter with whom Phillips has a good relationship. He later met Lindsay Crosby, the mother of the England international. What followed was an on-off relationship with jail time: “He’s been around badly. Drugs, brawls – anything you can think of.” He kept coming back to the family, but then the whole thing started all over again, Phillips told me in an interview with the Times. Today the father is back in prison.

His mother, Lindsay Crosby, had two jobs to support the family. They lived in a small house, Phillips and his brother slept in one room in bunk beds, his two sisters in the other room and his mother on the sofa. The Leeds kicker depended on free school meals in its youth.

“I saw kids coming with packed lunches, sandwiches and candy bars. Some kids laughed at me and said, ‘You get free school lunches.’ I came home and asked, ‘Mom, why can’t I have a packed lunch?’ “We can’t afford it,” said my mother. There were times when my mother didn’t eat anything at night so we could eat, “said the footballer. His grandmother Val took part every now and then in order to be able to support the family. She was his great role model.

His grandma was his biggest fan

Grandma Val was Phillips’ biggest fan and played a big role in his upbringing, he tells the Times. When Gareth Southgate called him in the summer of 2020 to nominate him for the English national team, she was over the moon. He hadn’t even played a game in the Premier League at the time, as Leeds had only been promoted that summer.

He gave her an iPad and she knew more about his club than he did. Unfortunately, she no longer saw her grandson play in the European Championship. She passed away in February 2021. When England made it to the final, Phillips ran to the grandstand where his family was sitting and pulled on a jersey that read “Granny Val”.

He celebrates his mother on Father’s Day

His father, however, was never really there, he told the Times. Every day he drives past the Leeds prison where he is incarcerated. “We talk on the phone every couple of weeks. I’ve been to prison a few times, but I don’t like going to see him there and prefer to talk on the phone,” he continues.

The legendary Wembley Stadium

His father is very proud of him and a big Leeds fan. When Kalvin Phillips was promoted to the Premier League with Leeds last summer, his father reportedly called him while the inmates sang the English club’s anthem “Marching On Together” in the background. On Father’s Day, however, he celebrates his mother Lindsay because she always took on both roles.

Kalvin Phillips has a small circle

Due to his bad experiences in the past, he prefers to keep his circle of friends and acquaintances small. The kicker has been dating his girlfriend Ashleigh Behan for eleven years. “We met at school,” reports Philips and adds: “We’ve been together every day since then. I don’t want to get to know anyone else because we’re so close. I keep my circle very close and new people at a distance.”

Kalvin Phillips is a fighter in life as well as in football. You can see that in his style, my experts. “All of this is not given by God, but worked hard,” says the kicker to the “Times”. A piece of wisdom that he learned from his grandmother: if you only work hard, you can achieve anything.

The only thing Phillips is missing is a goal to this EM. Whenever he hits, he kisses a tattoo on his arm and points a finger at the sky. He dedicates the goals to his triplet sister Lacreasha, who died just a few months after she was born. Who knows: maybe Kalvin Philipps will be able to show this gesture in the final against Italy – and then he will become the real hero of England.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts