Over 4,000 miles separate the three cities that Alex Bonnington has called home in the last two years. He left his hometown of Rotherham and came across the pond to play soccer for Duke University in Durham, North Carolina last year, and after a season hampered by injury, he transferred to Boston University. This fall, he’s earned consistent minutes with the Terriers as the men’s soccer program looks to build on one of its strongest starts in recent history.
Rotherham is a town of about 270,000 residents in South Yorkshire, England, and like most of the country, soccer — or football, as they call it in most of the world — was the centerpiece.
“In England, it’s football or nothing else, so from an early age me and my friends would just play football all day,” Bonnington said.
This childhood obsession hinted at professional promise as Bonnington grew into a more self-assured player, leading his team at Wickersley School & Sports College to multiple championships while scoring plenty of goals along the way.
After he reached his mid-teens, Bonnington “had a massive growth spurt” and now measures at just over six feet tall.
“I got a lot better, a lot more athletic and I ended up getting scouted for the academy in Sheffield Wednesday [Football Club],” Bonnington said. “From there, I just kicked on, tried to make the most I could out of football.”
Upon joining the Owls, he burst onto the scene with the under-18s, leading the team in goals from 2017 to 2021. His last season with the U18s saw him score two hat tricks and make a few under-23 appearances before officially signing a contract with the U23s for the 2021-22 season.
“He got stronger. He got quicker, mentally and physically,” said Will Trueman, Bonnington’s former teammate at Sheffield Wednesday. “He grew more confident as he [was] coming through [the] scholarship and as he got his professional contract, he rounded his game off better.”
At the end of his contract a year later, Bonnington took a harsh look at the options in front of him. In his mind, the path pointed toward collegiate soccer across the Atlantic, which would allow him to balance school and sport.
When asked about making such a big decision, he chalked it up wanting to pursue that balance.
“I felt like I was not doing enough for myself, “ Bonnington said. “At this stage, I had an opportunity to [pursue] really good academics and also play football at a high level.”
The decision made sense in the eyes of those closest to him as well.
“He’s an intelligent and bright lad,” Trueman said. “I thought it was a good and grown-up decision for himself.”
Ultimately, Bonnington committed to Duke University, the team ranked No. 12 in the nation going into the 2022 season.
His path isn’t untrodden — according to the NCAA, Bonnington is one of 203 Division 1 men’s soccer players from the United Kingdom — but he never would have expected his life to go this way.
“When I got released from Sheffield Wednesday, I never thought I’d be coming to the States,” Bonnington said. “I always thought I’d be in England all the way through until I got a job.”
In American college soccer, the now-sophomore from South Yorkshire would find what he was looking for, just not in Durham.
“I wasn’t playing much and I didn’t really love the environment in North Carolina,” Bonnington said. “I was lucky enough to enter the transfer portal and end up here at Boston University.”
Trueman stayed in touch with Bonnington after his move to the States, and he observed that Bonnington “struggled a little bit just getting used to it.”
“Now he seems settled,” Trueman continued. “He seems like he’s enjoying it.”
BU men’s soccer head coach Kevin Nylen and his staff have acquired some of the team’s brightest stars through the transfer portal, including a trio of upperclassmen: senior goalkeeper Francesco Montali and graduate student midfielders Colin Innes and Quinn Matulis. The program has made a clear effort to provide a welcoming environment and seamless transition for athletes in times of flux.
“Everybody has a different background. Everybody has a different path,” Nylen said. “Everybody’s from a different place, whether that’s domestic or international. That alone creates so much diversity … but also we all share the one passion of soccer.”
The Terriers have got off to a hot start, and such a feat requires collaboration from every member of the team, a concept Bonnington apparently understands well.
“Alex carries a sense of maturity with him,” said Patrick Lopez, an assistant coach of BU men’s soccer. “[He’s] one of the centerpieces of our young group.”
Bonnington has played in nine out of the team’s 10 games and scored two goals, demonstrating traits that Nylen is looking for in big game scenarios.
“He’s a really good finisher, and we’ve seen it at training, we’ve seen it in multiple games already,” Nylen said. “He’s very calm in those moments, and that’s something that we hope to see even more.”
With so much change in three years, Bonnington has had to steady himself by relying on his support system back home.
“My dad especially watches every game possible, so he’ll be going to bed at 2 a.m. some nights and going to work the next morning,” Bonnington said. “I’m very happy that he does that for me because he’s always been the one to watch my games.”
Through all the wild change and adjustment, Bonnington is happy where he is.
“I’m settled and I feel like this is home now,” he said.
However, he remains hesitant to pick up too many American customs: he said that country music “was a big shock,” and when asked if he would ever call his sport “soccer,” all he had to offer was a simple “no.”
