Morning Parade

Arsenal fanatic Steve Sparrow, frontman of rising stars Morning Parade, talks us through his Football Firsts.

Arsenal fanatic Steve Sparrow, frontman of rising stars Morning Parade, talks us through his Football Firsts

This year is shaping up to be a good one for up-and-coming guitar outfit Morning Parade. Hailing from Harlow in Essex, the quintet have been widely tipped to become one of the most exciting breakout guitar bands of 2011, and are currently slap-bang in the middle of their first headline tour. Morning Parade are also promoting their new single, A&E, ahead of jetting off on a European tour with Liverpudlian Indie kids The Wombats before the festival circuit beckons in the summer. But frontman and lifelong Arsenal supporter Steve Sparrow found time to regale skysports.com with his earliest football memories.

Arsenal

When I was a kid I didn't really have a football club, I just liked football. When you're five or six you don't really care, you just kick the ball about. My granddad was a Spurs fan and my dad was a West Ham fan but I really wasn't interested in either of them. But my best mate was an Arsenal fan and he and his dad took me up to Highbury one day and that was it - I was an Arsenal fan from then on. My granddad and my dad hated it. I always was into red as a kid, and that's what it's all about when you're young, who's winning the most and who looks the best in their kit. My home town, Harlow, was pretty much dominated by Spurs fans, so Arsenal fans were few and far between. The stick at school wasn't too bad though, the ones who got stick were Manchester United fans. You had to feel sorry for United fans, having to drive all the way back to London after a game.

England 4 Moldova 0, Wembley, September 1997

It was a school trip and I'd never been before. I think it was £15 for a ticket. Obviously with my granddad and dad supporting Spurs and West Ham they never took me to a game. I think it was against Moldova or something like that. I was only 10 or 11 and it was just before the World Cup. I went to about four in a row after that. My teens were full of booze, so I struggle to remember any of it. Ian Wright was playing, and I remember Stan Collymore was warming up and we were waving at him.

Ian Wright

Definitely Ian Wright, although it was Dennis Bergkamp a little bit later on. They used to score goals for fun. I was about eight or nine when they were at their peak, so I was a big fan when I was a kid. It was always Wrighty on the back of my shirt.

German national side

It was probably the whole German national team on my first holiday abroad. When I was a kid we used to go on camping trips in the south of France. I remember it was Gareth Southgate's time to stand up in front of the penalty spot at Wembley at Euro 1996. I was really young and we were watching in a bar. All these blokes were standing around going 'Oh no, not Gareth Southgate!'. When he missed I was absolutely gutted. The Germans ruined my first holiday. They ruined my childhood. It was such a deflating feeling but you get used to that being an England fan.

Losing to Liverpool

My earliest football memories weren't that great. I used to go out and watch my dad play Saturday League as a kid then go back to my grandparents' house and be allowed to stay up late to watch Match of the Day. Other than that it was the times Liverpool always used to beat Arsenal, when Ian Rush was scoring loads of goals against us. I always used to go round to my friend's house to watch the games and we were always really gutted.

Sumners Youth

I played 11-a-side from the age of about seven to 16. I used to play for a team called Sumners Youth. We were rubbish for years, but when we got to around 14/15 we all got quite good. I think we won the league, then won the cup a year later. I remember the first trophy I won was 'most improved player', and it meant quite a lot to me when I was about eight. The club changed names constantly but it was essentially the same group of players the whole time. It was wicked, I used to love playing, but when I got to about 16 I discovered smoking and beer and didn't want to get up on a Saturday morning.

Liverpool

This is really bad. My first kit was stuff the family had given me and the first shirt I remember having, when I was really young and playing in the garden, was a red Liverpool shirt with Barnes on the back. It was so old school, like a dodgy '80s hand-me-down from a cousin or something. My first kit I was really proud of was my Arsenal JVC one with Wright on the back. I used to go to school in it in the summer and think I was really cool.

Oasis - Be Here Now

This is the first one I'm going to tell you about. There were probably embarrassing ones before, when you're a kid you make bad decisions about music. I remember the first single I bought was Shaggy - Mr Bombastic. At the time I thought that was wicked. Although his album was never of interest to me, just that single. A&E by Morning Parade is out now on Parlophone Records. Check in with the band here.