What happened to first winner of Wayne Rooney's Street Striker who was 'banned from football'
The first winner of Wayne Rooney's Street Striker was 'banned from football'.
Rooney's Street Striker was a British reality television series that first aired in 2008.
It was a contest to find the most skillful street footballer in the United Kingdom, with Manchester United and England legend Rooney fronting the show alongside Andy Ansah.
Londoner Travis Beckford won the first edition and had the world at his feet until he was banned from football before ending up in prison.
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Beckford - brother of former Leeds United forward Jermaine - impressed Rooney with his tricks and skills, winning the show, aged just 16.
He was primed to enjoy a career in football, having made a name for himself in front of UK viewers.
Having earned a cash prize and a trip to Brazil, Beckford followed in the footsteps of his brother by joining Leeds.
He linked up with the club's academy but was unable to kick on, struggling with the physicality.
An injury left him unable to walk for a month. He returned to London, having moved away from the capital after he was stabbed as a youngster.
But his career and life turned on its head following an incident whilst playing for his local team Hanwell Town.
A brawl broke out, with the FA singling out Beckford before handing him a one-year ban.
His life spiralled out of control as he turned to making money illegally, which included selling drugs.
But an incident in a house saw him get arrested. He was denied bail and was initially handed a ten-year sentence two days after his 19th birthday.
However, his sentence was reduced to six years and eight months on appeal. He severed two-and-a-half years in prison.
"I thought, 'How is this happening to me when there were another 10, 12 people involved that weren't banned?' At that point, I was ready to just turn my back on football," he told The Daily Mail.
"I was very upset, I was very deflated about it. I just thought, how could it go from being so good to so bad in the space of six months?
"It was very bad in my area, there were a lot of shootings, murders, stabbings, there was a lot of drug dealing and gang problems. People I knew got killed.
"Sabrina always used to say about staying focused and to stop running around the streets or you're going to end up getting hurt or go to prison - but I never really used to listen to anyone.
"I got deeper and deeper into street lifestyle, selling drugs. It turned into conversations with a few of my peers at the time - why are we getting all of these drugs and selling them, why don't we just rob the drug dealers of the money, because they can't go to the police about it?
"That was our mindset: get their money and just leave. It got more and more serious and then, one particular evening, it just went completely left.
"It all kicked off in this house, and a few people in there got hurt. It was a very bad situation. I got hurt, and so did my co-defendant.
"It was one of the worst days of my life. There was knife crime involved, stabbings, it was just a mess, if I'm honest.
"We got arrested shortly after that, there were police helicopters and dogs, it was very serious.
"It was enough time for me to get myself together if I started immediately.
"That's what I started thinking about: what am I going to do, who am I going to be, when I get released?
"All I'd ever known was playing football and being on the streets. Who was Travis Beckford going to be, post-Wayne Rooney's Street Striker, post all this street stuff, post being a local [drug dealer] - who's that going to be? I spent a long time working on myself.
"My sister was dying, I needed to sort my life out. I felt incredibly bad because I was f**king up, I'd made selfish decisions.
"There's this quote, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’. Even though I was doing bad things, I was doing it for the right reasons. I felt really bad about my mum and my sister, all the people who had believed in me."
Beckford channeled his energy into music after a visit from Jason Mitchell and Chris Chalaye.
Mitchell introduced Beckford to BBC Radio 1 DJ Target and the pair collaborated following his release. He gained a place on a BBC apprenticeship scheme before meeting others in the music industry.
From there, he landed a full-time job at Epic Records label - owned by Sony Music Entertainment.
He has since worked with Borussia Dortmund and Anthony Joshua and focuses on his own project that helps young people break into music.
Topics: Wayne Rooney, Football
Nasir Jabbar