Royal baby: What's the chance he'll be king of the sports field?

According to a recent poll 65 per cent of people would like the new Royal baby to experience the working life of ordinary folk. But what are the chances of the little prince becoming a sporting superstar?

The UK is currently in a golden period for sport, with a record-breaking performance at the Olympics, victorious British and Irish Lions, winners at Lord’s and Wimbledon just a few of the heroes showing that the sporting landscape is being ruled by Britannia.

So what are the chances of the newest Royal adding to the list of champions?

The short answer is – it depends what sport they want to play.

If they fancy donning the three lions for our national game, babies born in the first three months of the year are much more likely than those born in the summer months to reign supreme on the pitch, with January babies almost twice as likely to be picked to select their country as July babies, according to scientific analysis.

According to the FA, 57% of players at Premier League academies were born between September and December, while just 14% had their birthday between May and August.

And only 18% of first class county cricketers were born in the June to August quarter, with a much bigger proportion (34%) born between September and November.

So a baby born at this time of the year is only around half as likely to play county cricket as an autumn heir to the throne.

Tim Lamb, chief executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, the umbrella body for sport, says that this effect can be widely observed in sport.

“A child’s chances of succeeding in a sport are affected by when he or she is born. Typically, athletes are put into age groups as they grow up – the under 10s, the under 11s etc. And those age groups each have cut-off points – for example the last day of August in each year.

"If you are born just after that cut-off point, in September in this case, that will make you the oldest in your age group, and that gives you a big advantage compared to someone born right at the end of that year group, say in July or August.

"If you are ten or eleven years old, that eleven month difference can make a big difference to your size or co-ordination and that, in turn, can mean you are more likely to be picked out for elite teams.”

But the pedigree is there and Will and Kate’s latest addition to the Royal family could yet be next-in-line for sporting greatness.

Not only were the baby’s great grandparents, George VI and the Queen Mother, both members of the Hawks’ Club – a club for the crème de la crème of elite athletes at the University of Cambridge – but there are also two Olympians in the family.

Princess Anne ruled Britain’s equestrian scene in the 1970s where she won the individual title at the European Eventing Championship and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971 before going on to compete in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

Not to be outdone, her daughter Zara Philips proved she was a chip off the old block when she won individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship as well as a silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics as a member of Great Britain Eventing Team.

And Tim Lamb is confident that the new HRH will find a sport he enjoys, whether or not he makes international honours.

“Luckily enough with more than 300 national governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation out there in the UK, all under the roof of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, we’re sure that there’s a sport or activity out there for the future heir. I’m sure our members will be keen to give him a sporting chance or two.”

Read more Sport and Recreation Alliance news.

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