Stella Creasy blames England team’s poor performances on their private education – but only ONE attended fee-paying school

A LABOUR MP has been mocked for claiming England’s football team is struggling because too many players are “privately educated”.

Speaking in the Commons, Stella Creasy suggested the FA were “missing out on the talent that exists in the comprehensive sector” - despite just one player in England's team against Spain last week not attending a British state school.

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Only Eric Dier who attended the International Preparatory School in Lisbon and then Sporting Lisbon's academy attended a fee paying school.

She quoted a report claiming 13 per cent of the team went to private schools – double the national average.

Fans immediately mocked the comments given the late night antics of Wayne Rooney, Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson after the recent England Scotland match.

Others pointed to the Cambridge education enjoyed by the MP – and the aristocratic relations she is thought to have on her Mother’s side.

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The 13 per cent figure comes from a report on social mobility by Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary.

In 2014, he concluded that 13 per cent of the England team went to independent schools.

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Ms Creasy said she was trying to make a point that too many poorer children were missing out on a chance to make it in sports.

She spoke out after Tory John Redwood compared children being scouted for elite footballers to those being selected for grammar schools at a very young age.

Ms Creasy said: “Does he not recognise that this is precisely the problem that we are discussing today? We are missing out on talent as a result of too narrow a focus?”

She added: “The fact is that 13 per cent of our national football team went to private schools, which is twice the national percentage of children who go to private schools.

“Does the right Hon. Gentleman think that might account for the performance of our national football team, and that we might be missing out on the talent that exists in the comprehensive sector?”

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Frank Lampard went to a private school and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain attended St John’s College in Portsmouth.

But traditionally rugby union and cricket are seen as sports dominated by privately educated kids.

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