SUMMARY
- Marcus Rashford's upbringing was marked by adversities.
- Rashford became a prominent advocate for addressing hunger in the UK inspired by his own early life.
Marcus Rashford is an English forward who plays for Manchester United in the Premier League. The English forward started his professional career with Manchester United in the summer of 2016 when he was promoted to the senior team from the youth setup.
Rashford had one of his most successful seasons in 2022/23 where he scored 30 goals and 11 assists in 56 matches for Manchester United. In the current season, the output is not matching the numbers of 2022/23 with only five goals and six assists in 32 matches. The drop in form has raised questions about the commitment of the English star to Manchester United.
These criticisms of commitment prompted Rashford to release a piece for The Players’ Tribune in which he responded to these criticisms by tracing back his stint with Manchester United in the last eight years on the senior side, as well as his hard journey to the senior team before 2016. This piece puts a spotlight on the troubled childhood of Marcus Rashford.
The harsh reality of Marcus Rashford’s childhood
Rashford delves into the harsh reality of his childhood in the piece for The Players’ Tribune. He revealed how he had to change four different buses just to reach the training ground of Manchester United. No one in his family had a car or a driver’s license. In every weather condition, he had to make it to the training ground without anything good to eat.
Rashford revealed to The Players’ Tribune: “Imagine being 5, 6, 7 years old and taking four different buses across town to get to training at The Cliff. That’s not an exaggeration. Ask my mum. Somebody had to take off work to go with me because nobody had a car in our family. Nobody even had a license.”
Rashford’s mother used to wait for him at the training ground during the session to take him back home by taking those four buses back to his area. The English forward highlighted that he didn’t even once complain about these conditions due to his desire to play for Manchester United.
Marcus Rashford was inspired by his poor background to end the child hunger issue in the UK
This isn’t the first time Rashford has talked about his rough upbringing. His background and childhood were in focus back in the pandemic when he tried to address the hunger issue in the UK. He helped raise money for a campaign that tried to help 400,000 hungry children in the country.
During the campaign, the forward talked about the food situation at his home during his childhood. He revealed in an interview with BBC that his mother worked full-time, earning the minimum wage, to make sure her kids had food on the table. However, it wasn’t enough. He added how his family had to buy seven yogurts for a pound so that they could eat at least one of them a day.
Rashford was inspired by his own story and pledged to help kids in the UK not face similar conditions as him. He was the first soccer star in England to tackle the food pandemic. His initiative raised around £20 million ($25 million) for the cause and helped around four million kids during the pandemic. Marcus Rashford was rewarded for his efforts in this campaign with an MBE title.