scholes was born in salford, greater manchester. on his mother's side, his grandmother came from the republic of ireland while his grandfather was from northern ireland. the family moved to langley, greater manchester, when he was 18 months old, where he lived on bowness road and talkin drive. he attended the st mary's rc primary school in langley. the first team he played for was langley furrow. scholes also excelled at cricket. at age 14, he began training with manchester united. he later joined as a trainee upon leaving the cardinal langley roman catholic high school in middleton during the summer of 1991. in his final term at school, he was selected to represent great britain national schools in football.