Kelvin Earl was an Associate Schoolboy with Norwich, his hometown team, in season 1989/90 and was a contemporary of Andy Johnson. He did not break into the Youth team and was not offered a trainee professional's contract. The Pink Un revealled on October 17th 1998 that Kelvin had joined Anglian Combination Division One side Mattishall and made his debut against Lakeford in a 4-1 defeat the previous weekend.