Michail Antonio has been talking of the days when he grew up amid South London street gangs and how it impacted on himself and his friends.
He lived in an affluent area squeezed between the housing estates of Battersea and Tooting, where gang violence was prevalent.
And it it was impossible to remain unaffected by the feuds between the local gangs, SUK (Stick ‘Em Up Kidz) and TZ (Terror Zone) the results of which were both traumatising and fatal.
He explained: “I had friends who were in SUK, I had friends who were in TZ. But my brother, John, who was two years older, never got into any gangs or anything. Why would you join a gang and have friends just from one gang when you could have friends all over?”
‘There was a stage when SUK joined up with TZ and they became SNT. That was Clapham Junction and Tooting/Mitcham; they were both together. That lasted a month. After that, everyone from Tooting couldn’t go into Clapham Junction and everyone from Clapham Junction couldn’t go into Tooting.
‘One of my good friends, Eugene, who used to play football for Wandle Wanderers with me, went from Clapham Junction with SUK to Mitcham. I don’t know why they went, but they ended up going there. He got stabbed to death.
‘And one of my other friends went to prison for it. Within a month of being friends, all in one crew, all happy, within six months of that, one of my other friends had died from getting stabbed.’
Michail tells of those days and much more in a Mail on Sunday article – go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3805775/My-good-mate-stabbed-death-brother-saved-gangs-Michail-Antonio-opens-difficult-childhood-incredible-journey.html
