While the average person’s life winds down going in to the festive period, it becomes a busy time for footballer’s as they tackle the UK festive fixtures unable to really enjoy everything we’re now used to every Christmas and New Year. Tough life, eh?
Things get worse when the snow comes.
By Rob Boulton
It’s not often that footballers get any form of sympathy from the general public, but as everybody prepares to finish for the Christmas break – footballers and their families are about to embark on probably their busiest and most demanding spell of the season.
With games coming thick and fast it’s a brilliant part of the festive schedule to have loads of games to get to or watch on TV, but spare a thought for the children who will barely get to see their dad’s and the wives who face another Christmas day slaving in the kitchen alone as the players head off to hotels to prepare for the boxing day match.
It must also be like some form of Chinese torture for professional players to be surrounded by mounds of food and a fridge stocked with booze but not be able to indulge as they fine-tune their body in advance of the gruelling schedule of games that await – and any niggling injuries get no chance to heal as the next game is never more than 2-3 days away.
New Year’s Eve again will be written off as they try and get to bed at a decent hour with the New Year’s day fixtures awaiting. So whilst they enjoy all the trappings of wealth for doing a job we’d happily do for nothing, they do sacrifice some of the most special days of the year from a family perspective and I guess that allows us to remember that they are just regular people away from the stadium, people like you or I.
It would be very interesting to speak to the physio’s and find out how many players feel a tight hamstring or complain of a strain or ache to miss a match and get on the razzle instead!
Would you happily sacrifice the festive period for a crack at the big time? Tweet us @talkingbaws or comment below. Watch out for Gino De Blasio’s blog tomorrow.
