Growing up in the shadow of two of the world’s most famous – and wealthiest – football clubs can give children a chance to see their sporting heroes and be within touching distance of the most prestigious trophies the beautiful game has to offer.
But, despite calling a multi-billion pound team your neighbour, children on one side of Manchester’s footballing rivalry are 50 per cent more likely to grow up impoverished. Children are ‘50 per cent less likely to grow up in poverty (22.3 per cent) on the red side of Greater Manchester than on the blue side (44.7 per cent) – only a couple of miles down the road’, say academics.
These figures are based on public health information from the clubs' local authority area, which look at poverty; obesity; infant mortality rate; life expectancy at birth; educational attainment; and the gap in life expectancy.
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Ahead of the start of the next football season, leading academics have analysed data on a range of childhood health indicators. They have created a football league table ranking children’s health in the locations of the 20 men’s Premier League teams.
And the results ranked from best to worst are shocking – demonstrating the extent of health disparity across the country. The top half of the table, showing the best performing areas when it comes to children’s health, is dominated by southern clubs.
The two of the three clubs in the relegation zone are in the north west, including Liverpool and Everton. But there is a striking divide within Greater Manchester, pulling into sharp focus the impact of growing up in one of the region's wealthiest boroughs versus a more deprived area.
Accor
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