Dean Windass is the latest former footballer to talk about suffering from depression. It’s not surprising that people whose whole life has been built around a weekly jolt of excitement that the rest of us can’t begin to imagine find it hard to settle for a Saturday afternoon spent at Homebase.
Footballers have always known their time is limited. Over the last twenty years rock stars have begun to realise that theirs isn’t. It shouldn’t really be that way. If there ever was a profession for kids it’s rock star. It’s turned out to be the only glamour profession that you can still pursue in the buspass years. That’s one of the main reasons that people keep doing it. Most of them have tried retirement and discovered that they need that feeling when eight o’clock comes around. If footballers could carry on playing the way that rock stars do, they would as well.
I'm not really a football fan but surely they've missed out on a trick by not setting up some sort of Oldies League/Tour in the style of the Tennis Seniors Tour.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a big fan of particular players, surely it would still be enjoyable to see them play - even in retirement? I guess its harder for team players than individual sports, but I still reckon it would be great entertainment and somewhat inspiring too.
OldCootBall?
There is a 'Masters' football tournament which does exactly as you say, gets some of the oldies (late thirties to early fifties) together to play in an indoor 5 a side competition, televised by (of course) Sky. It's quite good fun, and interesting to see which of the old timers have kept themselves fit and which have gone to seed a bit.
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