Carlisle’s Brunton Park is to stage a major Schools international next Friday when England take on Scotland (7-45pm).

The match is part of the Centenary Shield, which is a competition contsted by all the home countries.

The match usually throws up someone who goes on to have a successful professional career.

Last year in the same fixture played at St. Mirren, one of the England players was Chris Smalling who has recently been transferred from Fulham to Manchester United for £ 8 million.

Previous internationals have been held at Brunton Park and the ‘football talent scouts’ in the area may well recall some familiar names.

In 1979 England met Northern Ireland at Under 15’s level. The England team included Trevor Steven and Mark Walters, both of whom went on to have successful professional careers while in the Northern Ireland team was Norman Whiteside.

He was a year young for that age group and quite a skinny lad too but that didn’t prevent him going on to represent his country and Manchester United on many occasions.

In !981 England met Scotland Under 18’s when the England team included Andrew Cale from Ulverston and Wes Saunders who went on to play for Newcastle and Carlisle.

Back in !996 England played Holland at Under-18’s level when the Dutch team included eight from Ajax, among them Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (pictured) now plying his trade in the Premier League with Hull City.

Who knows, next Friday will probably have a future professional on show.

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