Following the family tradition

West Ham United schoolboy Louis Yuill will be following the family tradition after being called-up by Scotland U16s for the first time.

The Academy youngster's grandfather William played age-group football for Scotland himself, turning out against England at Villa Park in 1948.

Now, 66 years later, the 15-year-old midfielder has been included in the Scotland U16 squad for an International Development Tournament, which kicks-off in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday.

There, Yuill and his Scottish team-mates will take on the host nation, Azerbaijan and Montenegro in a four-team tournament spanning four days. Scotland will play Azerbaijan on 11 June and finally Montenegro two days later.

Yuill's father Ian, who spent time with West Ham himself before being released at the age of 18, was himself a semi-professional with a number of Essex-based clubs and is now a technical coach working with Academy prospects of all ages.

Ian is naturally proud to see his son following in his own father's footsteps, saying: "My dad William was a footballer himself who played for Scotland against England at Villa Park. He is 86 now and is delighted for Louis.

"Personally, I'm over the moon. Louis has been going up to Scotland for the last year or so for training camps and, following the most recent one, we had a call from the coach Scot Gemmill saying he had done really and might be picked in the next U16 squad and now he has been.

"Unlike many of the Academy schoolboys of his age, who are taught at the Academy, Louis still attends his old school, St John's in Billericay. He puts in ever so much effort with his school work and travelling to and from Rush Green for training, so we are delighted that his hard work has paid off.

"I, my wife Janice and his school sportsmaster Ian Barnard are all immensely proud of his call-up."