The Leicester striker sits atop the league’s scoring charts with six goals, one of the stars of the season to date. The path taken, however, has been far from straightforward.
Until he signed for the Foxes in 2012 (who were then competing in the Championship), Vardy had been plying his trade in non-league football, forging a formidable goalscoring reputation.
Growing up as a fanatical Sheffield Wednesday supporter, Vardy’s dream of playing professional football was dealt a harsh blow, being released by the club he supported his whole life at the age of 15. He was considered ‘too small’ to make it.
Following his release, Vardy joined the Stocksbridge Park Steels. If you are wondering why you may not have heard of the Steels, it is because they are current strugglers in the Northern Premier League’s Division One South – the eighth tier of English football.
Vardy completed a reasonably lengthy apprenticeship with the Steels, making over 100 appearances for the club, before signing for FC Halifax Town in 2010. The team’s player of the season – after amassing 27 goals in a season – led Halifax Town to the Northern Premier League title in his only season, clearly in need of a bigger challenge.
The bigger challenge came with Fleetwood Town in the competition known then as the Conference Premier League. The improvement in quality (albeit now in the fifth tier of English football) of competition only seemed to spur on Vardy, netting an outstanding 31 goals in 36 games, ensuring promotion into the Football Leagues.
It was following Vardy’s heroics with Fleetwood Town that finally urged the bigger clubs to take notice. Such was Vardy’s reputation within non-league football, his £1 million move to the Foxes in 2012 was a record for a non-league player. He was 25 at the time, already a journeyman in England’s obscurity.
It is remarkable to think that when watching Vardy this season, it is only his third year in league football – and only his second in the top flight. With each new season and each new challenge, Vardy seems to revel, taking his own game to new levels.
While it may provide loads of material for various football meme accounts on social media, Vardy is currently more prolific in league statistics than megastars Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, averaging a lethal 104 minutes per goal. Three years ago, most would not have even heard of him.
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No doubt there has been a resilience engrained in Vardy due to his graft in non-league football and the disappointment suffered following his release from Sheffield Wednesday’s youth system. It is this resilience – and a belief that no challenge is too big or no result is too farfetched – that typifies the start Vardy’s Foxes have made to the Premier League season, following on from their against-the-odds survival from relegation in the season prior.
The club’s achievements in recent times are a testament to a confident, fighting mindset, something Vardy obviously possesses. After all, he is currently playing with two broken bones in his wrist.
Yet he remains grounded. Speaking of his recent call-up to the England squad, Vardy told the Daily Mail: “I’ve been pinching myself every day since the squad got mentioned. Hopefully I’ll learn a lot from this tip and if I get some game time I’ll be showing exactly what I can do.”
In Vardy, there is surely hope for many currently in lower levels of football that their dreams can still be realised. It may also serve as a reminder to scouts that diamonds may still exist in the rough. His current form is a proverbial breath of fresh air for those tired of self-indulgent prima-donnas all too prevalent in the world’s top leagues.
Despite his sudden rise on the field, Vardy has encountered trouble off it. Recently, Vardy was embroiled in a race row involving a Japanese man at a casino, something Vardy describes as one of ‘the hardest times in his career’. Eager to repent, Vardy has been undergoing a racial awareness course.
Prior to joining the Steels, Vardy played Sunday League football wearing an electronic ankle tag, the result of an assault during an altercation in which Vardy says he was sticking up for a friend, who was being bullied for wearing a hearing aid. Perhaps a contributing factor in Vardy’s career initially stalling was a lack of maturity.
Vardy’s recent international call-up has been lamented by many for this very reason, declaring that the Foxes hitman is a sign of dire times regarding English talent. It could be argued, however, that a man with Vardy’s attributes is exactly what the ever-underperforming Three Lions have lacked, even throughout the previous ‘golden generation’ – a team with an embarrassment of riches when it came to talented footballers.
Vardy is extremely quick, in-form, determined, resilient and is most unlikely to take his newest challenge for granted. Although he may not be the best technically, he has shown an end product, providing immense troubles for Premier League defences this season. Even in his side’s 5-2 defeat to Arsenal, Vardy was a constant threat, scoring a brace to maintain his goalscoring run.
On form, little argument can be made against Vardy’s selection for England. Even if various pundits continue dismiss his feats as a ‘flash-in-the-pan’ or a player lacking enough culture to lead the team forward, it can be guaranteed that there is one man that will continue to believe that nothing is beyond the 28-year-old striker – and that is Jamie Vardy himself.
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