BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY ; BRITISH BLACK PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER RIO FERDINAND : A SUPER STAR GIFTED FOOTBALLER :

Rio Gavin Ferdinand  born 7 November 1978  is an English footballer. He plays at centre-back for Manchester United. He has earned a total of 81 caps for England, and has been a member of three FIFA World Cup squads.
Ferdinand began his football career playing for various youth teams, finally settling at West Ham United where he progressed through the youth ranks and made his professional Premier League debut in 1996. He became a fan favourite, winning the 'Hammer of the Year award' the following season. He earned his first senior international cap in a match against Cameroon in 1997, setting a record as the youngest defender to play for England at the time. His achievements and footballing potential attracted Leeds United and he transferred to the club for a record-breaking fee of £18 million. He spent two seasons at the club, becoming the team captain in 2001.
He joined Manchester United in July 2002 for around £30 million, breaking the transfer fee record once more. He won the Premier League, his first major club honour, in a successful first season at the club. In September 2003, he missed a drugs test and was banned from competition for eight months from January until September 2004, causing him to miss half a Premier League season, Manchester United's FA Cup triumph, and the Euro 2004 international competition. Upon his return, he established himself in the Manchester United first team and received plaudits for his performances, featuring in the PFA Team of the Year four times in five years. More club success followed with another Premier League win in the 2006–07 season and a Premier League and UEFA Champions League double the following year.
Ferdinand has three children, Lorenz, Tate and Tia, with his wife Rebecca Ellison. He was born into a footballing family: brother Anton Ferdinand is also a centre-back for Bursaspor and former England international striker Les Ferdinand is his cousin, as is Peterborough United midfielder Kane Ferdinand. Off the pitch he is involved with youth charities, film, music, and television including the prank series Rio's World Cup Wind-Ups.

BLACK  SOCIAL  HISTORY

Ferdinand was born at King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill, Camberwell, London, but grew up in Peckham. He is the son of Janice Lavender and Julian Ferdinand, a Saint Lucian. Ferdinand grew up on the Friary estate in Peckham as part of a large family. Both his parents worked to support the family, his mother as a child carer and his father as a tailor. His parents never married and they separated when he was 14 years old. His father remained close, moving to a nearby estate, and he was keen to stay involved in his children's lives, taking them to football training and to local parks. He attended Camelot primary school and was a boisterous child who numbered Mike Tyson and Diego Maradona among his heroes.
Ferdinand had a good upbringing and was a happy child but he also had to learn to live without luxuries in low-income Peckham, a district of London where almost half the population are categorised as poor or borderline poor. Violent crime was a common occurrence in the area he lived. However, he largely avoided the darker sides of the neighbourhood. At school, he focused on maths and revelled in the opportunity to perform before an audience during a school production of Bugsy Malone. He also impressed his classmates with skill on the playground, constantly playing football, dreaming of turning professional and seeing new places.

"I always as a kid wanted to do something different, I'd get bored very easily – even playing football or hanging around with my mates. So travelling away from home, meeting new people. ... I enjoyed it."

He chose to attend Blackheath Bluecoat School, a school somewhat distant from his house, in order to meet new friends and he settled in well, feeling his confidence growing. His second year was marred by the death of a fellow pupil, Stephen Lawrence, and the event demonstrated the ever-present threat of violence. Ferdinand enjoyed physical expression, taking part in not just football and gymnastics classes but drama, theatre and ballet too  He was an able child: he represented Southwark in gymnastics at the London Youth Games, by age 10 he had been invited to train at the Queens Park Rangers academy, and at age 11 he won a scholarship to attend the Central School of Ballet in London. He avidly attended the ballet classes, travelling to the city centre four days a week for four years. However, while the lessons surely improved his balance, it was professional football that he desired.

Ferdinand's superior footballing abilities were evident even as a child: when he was 11 years old a youth coach, David Goodwin, remarked "I'm going to call you Pelé, son, I like the way you play." Ferdinand was regularly playing in youth teams and at Eltham Town he played as an attacking midfielder but team scouts saw the young player had the physical potential to be a centre-back instead. Teams vied for the young footballer's services and during his youth he trained with Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers. Ferdinand was ever curious of different places and even travelled north to Middlesbrough's training ground, spending a good part of his school holidays in a bedsit just to be there.
London team West Ham United was to be his footballing home, however, and he joined their youth system in 1992. He signed his first Youth Training Scheme contract in January 1994 and played alongside players such as Frank Lampard at the academy. Success pending at club level, international football also began for Ferdinand; at 16 he joined the England youth team squad to compete in their age group's UEFA European Football Championship, gaining his first experience of international competition.