''Wayne Rooney's Street Striker'' (also known as ''Coke Zero Street Striker'' due to a sponsorship deal with

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

) is a British

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that was broadcast on

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

and in

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *Blu-ray Disc, the universal optical High Definition disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tap ...

on Sky1 HD. The prize for the winners of the competition includes trips to a football training camp in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final.

Background

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

played as a striker for Everton,

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

. He is one of the most recognised footballers in England and world football. He grew up in

Croxteth Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. At the 2011 census it had a population of 14,561. Etymology ...

, an inner-city part of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and practised his skills in the streets near his house, and it was this upbringing that inspired the show. The idea of ''Wayne Rooney's Street Striker'' came about in 2008 and the first series was filmed and broadcast in October and November of that year around the area of

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

just outside

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. The aim was to find a talented young footballer who could perform a range of tricks.

Format

The show takes the form of a contest to find the most skillful

street football Street football may refer to: * Street football (association football) * Street football (American) * Street Football (TV series) * ''Street Football'', an arcade video game published by Bally Sente See also *Medieval football Medieval foo ...

er in the United Kingdom. It is fronted by Rooney and former professional footballer Andy Ansah. England women's team footballer Sue Smith was also involved for the first two series. During the first two series of ''Street Striker'', young hopefuls around the UK were put to their test at trials, and only 24 talented footballers made it to the television show to appear on the episodes and perform in front of Rooney. In the third series, the search for the UK's most talented street striker was bigger than ever, with massive open-auditions held in both Manchester and Birmingham. Talented youngsters were also scouted from numerous eleven-a-side football clubs and five-a-side Power League teams all over the country. Ansah scouted all around the UK for talent, and brought to Rooney 100 talented young footballers who had the potential to be crowned ''Wayne Rooney's Street Striker'' 2010. Rooney had also upped the age limit to 16- to 24-year-olds, he wanted better talent, ability, mental strength and attitude than what he had in the previous two series of Street Striker. In the first episode, it shows the Top 100 Street Footballers of the UK being whittled down to just 20, who would then go on and perform in very difficult street football challenges in front of Wayne Rooney and be judged by him. This year contestants had to perform in front of massive crowds, which only added to the pressure to perform well. Contestants who made it through to the Final 20 in Street Striker 2010 included River, Hollie, Ricky, Mamus, Rosie, Alando, Lee, Jay, Jamie, Shpresim, Shannon, Daniel, Olly, Charlotte, Chris, Craig and others. Ricky won. The prize for the winner of the first series, Travis Beckford was a trip to a football training camp in

, while the second series winner, Ashleigh Goddard, won tickets to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. It was confirmed that the prize for the winner of the third series who was Jack Erritt from

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath ( ) is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, ...

would win a trip to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, where they will visit street football projects in the

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

community. They also get the chance to see the professional side Swansea FC play a match and perform some of their skills on the pitch at half-time.

Broadcast

The first series consisted of three episodes but the second and third series had one extra episode. The first series was broadcast on Sky1 on Sunday evenings at 7pm, beginning on 30 November 2008. The second series began on 8 November 2009 and ran for four weeks. The third series started airing on Sky1 and Sky1 HD on 14 November 2010.

References

External links

* {{Sky1 Sky UK reality television shows 2000s British reality television series 2010s British reality television series 2008 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings Association football reality television series 2000s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series